In the ongoing effort to relocate the village out of the Androscoggin River flood plain, special projects coordinator Diane Ray told selectmen Thursday that she was working with three families to acquire new housing and two landowners to buy their property.

The paper work for a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant for housing has been submitted. She is also applying for more Hazard Mitigation Grant Program money and working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for demolition funds reimbursement. She said they were pursing multiple avenues of funding for grants such as the Maine State Housing Authority, Rural Development and Tax Incentive Financing.

Three developers to oversee the project for the village center are being evaluated and a decision must be made in two weeks by the selectmen.

– Mary Standard
Buckfield: Exploring the local eskers

Tom Weddle from the Maine Geological Survey took some 18 people on a three-hour teaching walk Wednesday to study some of the unique geology in town. He has just finished mapping the surface geology of Buckfield. Resident Judy Berg said the group visited several sand pits that were laid down by a glacier, and they traveled over a natural esker, which is sometimes called a horseback of whale’s back. Weddle pointed out that this gravel ridge formation was formed during the ice age. He explained that the Maine coast came as far back as Buckfield during the melting of the glacier and the rising water in the ocean. “Maine has the most strongly developed eskers in the states,” he said.

The adventure was sponsored by the Western Foothills Land Trust.

Lee Dassler was the attending representative from the Land Trust.

– Mary Standard

Buckfield: Growth plan reviewed

Judy Berg reported that about 30 people attended the Comprehensive Plan update on Wednesday night. The meeting was for resident to review the draft plan. Wes Ackley and Terry Hayes are chairing the committee. Town Manager Glen Holmes said no one seemed opposed to a comprehensive plan though there was some discussion over where the line was between rural development and the village. There will be a meeting on the line distinction on Sept. 9, and then the town will hold a public hearing.

– Mary Standard

Hartford: Works in progress

Judy Hamilton said the Planning Board held a workshop Aug. 21 to finish the subdivision ordinance. Hamilton said the Comprehensive Plan Committee is almost two-thirds done with a draft. She said more public input is needed, and she encourages anyone to attend meetings, which are posted in the town office.

The Sept. 20 meeting will feature the Hartford members of the SAD 39 board talking about the education part of the plan. Hamilton said an outgrowth of working on the comprehensive plan was a column from the Bear Pond Association and the Lake Anasagunticook Association published in the Hartford newsletter listing permits that have been issued.

“This will be another avenue to inform the town of the happenings in the growth of the community,” she said.

– Mary Standard

Hartford: Universal waste day

Selectman Lee Holman reported that the universal waste day Thursday at the Hartford/Sumner Transfer Station was the first time the two towns worked together on it. Holman said about eight people who participated. “However,” she said, “that’s two more TVs that won’t end up dumped in the woods.”

– Mary Standard