KINGFIELD – The most controversial article on the warrant for Saturday’s town meeting asks residents to approve changes to the zoning ordinance, First Selectman John Dill said Wednesday.
The ordinance changes have been in the works for a while, Dill said, and residents have had a chance to discuss them during recent public hearings with the Planning Board members and lawyers who helped write them.
The changes would tighten the town’s position on issues such as water extraction, the permitting process, and which industries are prohibited, and they add the classification “aquifer- dependent industry” to Kingfield’s list of recognized uses. They were written in anticipation of a possible Poland Spring application to build a bottling plant in town.
Dill said he does not expect the proposed changes to be a “hotly contested issue.” The ordinances strengthen the town’s position in dealing with a big corporation, Dill said, regardless of residents’ views on whether or not Poland Spring should come to town.
“I hope it passes because it makes our ordinance a better ordinance,” he said
Dill is up for re-election this year, but he said Wednesday he expects to be elected because no one, as yet, has filed papers to run against him.
The town budget is up by almost nine percent from what it was last year, Dill said. This year, Kingfield officials will ask residents to approve an appropriation of $628,040, compared to $575,850 for 2005.
The budget is about $57,000 higher this year, Dill said, for a number of reasons. First, he said, high fuel costs and insurance hikes have increased the town’s administrative operating costs. “Costs have just gone out of sight,” he said. “Everything has gone up, except my brainpower,” he quipped. “Last year, we budgeted $5,000 for public works and spent $10,000. So this year, we’re budgeting $10,000.”
But there are two major spending requests on the warrant for Saturday’s town meeting that are not entirely due to outside costs, Dill said. The town hopes residents will agree to pay to replace a town bucket loader, which would cost approximately $77,000. Most of the money would come from the new highway equipment account, but selectmen hope residents will agree to raise $17,000 to supplement the $60,000 already in the account. Selectmen also hope townspeople will agree to raise $10,000 to replace a storm drain on Main Street that Dill says is desperately needed.
Town meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday in Kingfield Elementary School.
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