PERU – The Peru Town Office will soon be on the real estate market.

Roughly 50 voters at Tuesday’s special town meeting at the old Peru Elementary School approved a motion made by resident Tim Holland to put the building up for sale at fair market value. The nearly unanimous vote in favor of the article was the curtain call for the current town office, as the town is in the process of moving its operations to the old Peru school with the hope of conducting town business from there by the middle of October.

The old school will be turned over to the town Oct. 1.

“The town owns the buildings,” clarified secretary Kathy Hussey. “It’s just that SAD 21 is turning the use over to the town.”

Jim Pulsifer, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, explained that the town is moving to the old school to get more space to conduct business and with the rising cost of heat, Peru needs one central location for voting and other business to save money. Additionally, the town is looking for parties who might be interested in renting a space in part of the old school.

“Why not put it on the market?” asked resident Dana Putnam regarding the old town office. “Why not auction it to the highest bidder?”

Pulsifer said he preferred to put the building in the hands of a Realtor for a short time period, and then bring the issue back to citizens for further consideration if it doesn’t sell.

Last June, the town voted by referendum to move the town office. One resident, Bob Dolloff, was frustrated that more information wasn’t made available to citizens before this summer’s vote.

“Why weren’t there some hearings on this beforehand?” he asked heatedly. “It wasn’t properly done.”

There was significant discussion on building setback and building permit ordinances that the selectmen brought before residents. The new setback would have required that structures be placed at least 45 feet from the center of the right of way except for mobile home parks, and structures on private roads in mobile home parks were to be no less than 20 feet from the edge of the road or right of way.

Pulsifer noted that the ordinance in place says 20 feet from the edge of the right of way. “What we’ve done is something that doesn’t depend on the road size, whether it’s a three or four rod road.”

There were some questions from the audience as to the definition of structures. Pulsifer pointed out that fences and stone walls are not considered as such, but any type of building is.

“We opted for this because it’s a pretty straightforward, simple thing,” he added, noting that the town has had problems in some instances determining setbacks.

“I don’t see the big problem with spending $1,000 on surveys,” said resident Richard Powell, noting that the money spent was worth it for the town to locate exact setbacks. He stated that he was in favor of leaving the current ordinance in place.

“I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I feel we’re being ruled and regulated to death,” said Holland. “If it’s not a real big issue now, let’s leave it the way it is.”

Powell noted that the Planning Board should be involved in helping to craft such ordinances. The setback ordinance was shot down, 45-9.

The assembled continued to press the selectmen on the definition of a structure as they considered the building permit ordinance. Several residents asked how large a structure had to be to require a permit, and more than a few citizens expressed their exasperation with the proliferation of rules that made it difficult to perform work on one’s own property.

“I’ve got a shelter that the wind has shifted. You’re telling me I need a permit to move it back?” asked Glen Tompkins.

Pulsifer responded that a permit was required, and provided citizens with an explanation of the change to the current building permit ordinance that they were voting on. He noted that there would be a graduated fee scale based on structure size.

“This ordinance exists except for the fee structure right now,” Pulsifer said.

Dolloff summed up his thoughts on the matter.

“What right do the selectmen have to say what requires a permit and what doesn’t?” he asked. “If somebody wants to build a treehouse for a kid, they need a permit. Somewhere, you’ve got to have some common sense.”

“We should be encouraging development and not discouraging it,” said Andy Freeman, noting that the fee for structures more than 1,800 square feet had been increased. “It costs enough to build a house without raising the building fee.”

“The average people will pay is a heckuva lot less than under the current fee structure,” Pulsifer responded. The vote was 32 in favor of the fee structure change and 19 against.