Bethel’s Comprehensive Plan Committee has been in existence for two years but has accomplished little, and members are now in a stalemate on how to proceed, selectmen learned at their meeting last week.

Some residents questioned whether there should even be a comprehensive plan.

The panel is charged with updating the comprehensive plan, which was first done in 1998. Bethel is required to have the plan by law because the town imposes impact fees in the form of a Sewer System Development Charge (hookup charge), designed to accommodate an increase in water flow from increased development, according to town officials.

In addition, the plan also provides guidance to the Planning Board, said committee member and Bethel Planning Board Chairman Mike Charron. Comprehensive plans are designed to provide a broad blueprint of a town’s values and priorities for the future, particularly in the context of development.

Selectmen met Monday with some members of the committee, as well as with John Maloney of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, which offers services to advise towns on the plan process.

Committee member Fran Head wondered if the 1998 plan could simply be updated, with an eye to current state requirements. She said she had been involved in a comprehensive plan process in Gilead in the past, and that approach had been used successfully.

Bethel Planning Assistant Sarah Tucker has been assisting the committee. The panel has “a profound disagreement on how to proceed,” she said.

“Fran believes we should take the existing plan and do a ‘red line’ and rewrite the existing comprehensive plan,” Tucker said. “Other members feel we should start brand new —? disregard the existing document — and until that’s clarified, I don’t see us moving forward.”

Charron said that while he believes there is information that can be taken from the old plan, to just update doesn’t make sense. The town needs a vision for the future, he said, and an update “doesn’t show us the road ahead.”

Al Cressy, who was recently appointed to the committee, said he had attended one meeting. He described the committee as “dysfunctional” and said the group needs an outside facilitator. He suggested Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, which advised the 1998 committee.

“I disagree with Fran and her approach,” Cressy said. “We have splinter groups doing their own thing in terms of planning, and we need to pull those things together. We can pluck meaningful items from the existing plan, but we should not be tied to the existing plan. A lot has changed in 17 years.”

Head agreed that some guidance is needed.

“When it was presented to us we were told we needed to start a whole new one,” Head said. “I think that was absolutely absurd.”

Other committee members are Selectman Pat Carter, Rebecca Record and David DeGruttola.

Resident Rick Whitney questioned the need for a comprehensive plan at all.

Noting that the reason a plan is needed is because of the sewer ordinance, he said, “An awful lot of people get very nervous about having a comprehensive plan because quite often, there are personal agendas of individuals and groups who want to push certain ideas, and it’s not a reflection of what townspeople think. Perhaps we could consider not having that comprehensive plan, and eliminating that from the sewer ordinance.”

Town Manager Christine Landes said that would be an option. But if the town doesn’t move forward with something, she said, the committee will likely dissolve.

“We will have resignations,” she said.

Selectman Don Bennett said he agreed with Whitney.

“I’d very much like to look into the idea of being able to see if an SSDC fee and ordinance simply can’t somehow translate into a fee schedule that is not an ordinance.”

Charron reiterated that the Planning Board needs guidance.

Without a plan, he said, “there should also be subsequent review, contacts and road forward for things like resource protection and land use, so we have the muscle we need on the planning side if the comprehensive plan is no longer available.”

Landes said that was an option, and there was also a possibility of moving to a strategic plan instead.

A strategic plan typically focuses on infrastructure, such as roads, sewer and water, and spells out an improvement plan with capital investments over future years, Maloney said. It was possible to incorporate some comprehensive plan components into a strategic plan, he said.

Utilizing the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments in crafting a comprehensive plan can range from advice on specific issues for a fee, to a full “Cadillac” service that handles much of the process and can range from $25,000 to $35,000 in cost, Maloney said.

The Bethel committee would not need to “start from scratch” on a plan, he said.

The selectmen eventually agreed for Maloney to have a preliminary meeting with the committee to discuss their needs, and then report back to selectmen.

In other business at last week’s meeting, the board decided to wait until next year to consider planning a skating rink on the Bethel Common. Liability insurance for volunteers working on the rink has been a concern, and they would need to be appointed to a town committee in order to be covered.

Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, attended the meeting and said private donations were available to support the project. A provision for the town to accept them would have to be worked into the town budget meeting.

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