RANGELEY – In the largest turnout ever for a special town meeting, voters Thursday night unanimously rejected an article that would have allowed the Planning Board to draft an ordinance permitting commercial recreation camps in certain zones.
Not a single hand was raised when moderator Richard Caton Jr. asked voters to approve the article, which was mostly symbolic because the board does not need to go to the town for permission to develop a new zoning ordinance. However, any ordinance changes would need to be passed by voters at a town meeting.
Voters were not permitted to discuss pending litigation against the town that prompted the article.
The lawsuit, filed in June in Franklin County Superior Court, asks the court to find that the town’s zoning board of appeals acted on a request they should not have.
A development group wants to build Camp Rangeley on Round Pond. The 30-acre private summer camp is proposed to serve several hundred campers for eight weeks each summer. A group of abutters, also members of Rangeley Crossroads Coalition, filed the suit against the town and developer alleging that the zoning board of appeals should never have ruled in favor of the developers without a formal permit application. The code enforcement officer and Planning Board had previously denied the applicant’s request.
The article was requested by the proposed camp’s attorney, explained Bob Silvia, chairman of the Planning Board. The Planning Board never voted on the proposal because they were never provided with an application, he told them.
It is also unclear, whether a formal application would have been accepted by the Planning Board under current zoning ordinances.
After asking voters not to support the article, Jim Proctor, a member of Crossroads and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, was met with resounding applause when he ended by quoting Margaret Mead.
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world,” he quoted, “Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
“We, as a group, are trying to turn Rangeley into a better town,” Proctor said Friday. “What would we like to leave our children and grandchildren and future generations?” he asked.
Voters also approved changing 750 acres of land from industrial zoning to woodland and residential, thereby facilitating the sale of the property by Carol VanHoosier to Joe Bessey of Dallas Plantation. Bessey plans to build housing on the property which had been zoned industrial for a now-defunct mining operation. The land had also been used by the Rangeley Lakes Cross Country Ski Club which is in the process of moving its trails up near Saddleback.
With 152 registered voters attending and an additional 50 or so from surrounding plantations, it was the largest showing for a special town meeting in the history of the town, Town Clerk Kim Dolbier said Friday.
“It was a great town meeting. People left feeling that they had gotten something accomplished. They felt well-informed and felt like they were heard,” she said.
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