FARMINGTON — Voters unanimously approved a new water protection ordinance at a special town meeting Tuesday night.
The Town of Farmington Public Wellhead Protection Ordinance was adopted by at least 10 voters, meeting moderator Paul Mills said.
The original ordinance was adopted in 1997.
Along with changing the name of the ordinance to include the word public, the new version further protects the public water supply from land uses which could threaten groundwater taken from wells that serve the town’s public water system.
A public hearing was held in April on the proposed ordinance, which includes more requirements than previously outlined in the town’s ordinance.
Questions were raised last year during reviews of the proposed Brookside Village housing project on the Fairbanks Road, according to Town Manager Richard Davis at the time of the hearing.
An abutting neighbor raised concerns about a proposal to use a small pond on the property as a wet pond — a method of treating surface runoff water. The pond is within the department’s wellhead protection zone.
The town water department, Farmington Village Corporation, reached an agreement in September on a monitoring well with the developers, William Marceau and Byron Davis. As a result of the project review, the water department and town looked at the wellhead protection ordinance and developed the amended version.
Ground breaking for Brookside Village, a 32-unit apartment building for low-income seniors at the site of the former Maine Dowel Mill, will take place early in June.
After the town meeting, which took five minutes, selectmen met and unanimously approved use of Meetinghouse Park on Sunday, June 9, for a Flag Day ceremony hosted by the Farmington Elks Lodge. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. and is expected to last about an hour. The public is invited, Davis said.
The board also signed the warrants for the RSU 9 budget validation referendum on June 11 with voting from noon to 5 p.m. at the Community Center on Middle Street.
“It’s a big budget this year,” board Chariman Ryan Morgan said. He encouraged residents to vote.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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