FARMINGTON — The Board of Appeals will review an application from Henderson Memorial Baptist Church to reduce a setback so the church can construct a slab for storage of wood pellets.
The board meets at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 6, at the Municipal Building.
The church on Academy Street is changing its heating system from oil to wood pellets, Al McDaniel, chairman of the church trustees, said.
The church proposes to construct an approximately 12- by 11-foot slab on the rear of the church facing Pierce House. There is a slab about 8 by 10 feet there for oil storage, Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser said Wednesday.
The current grandfathered rear setback is 2 feet, 9 inches, and the application requests a variance to bring that setback down to 9 inches. The standard setback from a property line is 15 feet.
McDaniel expects to talk with Craig Jordan, president of the Pierce House Board of Trustees, before Monday’s meeting about the potential for an easement, if needed.
In researching the property line between the two, McDaniel said the church purchased the property in 1835 before Franklin County existed. The deed is filed in Kennebec County, he said.
The church board is considering either a silo or a pellet bag storage system. An alternate plan is also being considered if the present energy storage space, now hidden from the road, cannot be used, McDaniel said.
After the church’s oil boiler broke down this spring, alternatives were explored to reduce the approximate $10,000 spent on oil, he said.
A wood pellet system is expected to reduce fuel costs to half that amount. Installing the pellet furnace will change the heat from steam to hot water. The amount saved should pay back the cost of the system within eight years or less, he said.
The church has sought advice on pellet boiler systems from both RSU 9 and the University of Maine at Farmington who use the systems, Kaiser said.
Requests for variances on setbacks are quite common, especially on small private house lots where construction projects cannot meet the standard 15 feet now required by town ordinances, he explained.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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