" Goat Roping Lisbon Style"; Recap Planning Board May 24,2012

RECAP PLANNING BOARD MEETING – MAY 24^TH

The Planning Board meeting on May 24^th was yet another goat rope. I have attended two Planning Board meetings and both were total chaos. It was supposedly a Public Hearing on three cases: Premier Development; Open Door Bible Church and Wayne Ricker. After the Public Hearing would be the Planning Board's regular meeting.

The first two cases on the Public Hearing were fine. Premier Development wanted to continue to haul rocks into the pit and crush these rocks into gravel to be sold to continue the development on the site. An abutting neighbor complained about the amount of dusk in her yard. The discussion ended by Mr. Kelly agreeing to work with the Water Department to try and reduce the dust.

The next case involved the Open Door Bible Church requesting permission to rent space in the Self-Storage Facility that the Planning Board and the Town Council already approved. I do not understand why they had to ask permission if the Planning Board and Town Council already approved the facility. 

What did they think the church was going to utilize the storage space for any way? 

It was perfectly clear at the town council public hearing the storage unit was being utilized to pay for the building of the gym for the school. The discussion that followed was totally out of line in my eyes. Steve Warren and Don Fellows want the church to landscape the facility and to replace the advertising sign. Talk about jerking someone’s chain!

The third Public Hearing Case did not get off the ground. Don Fellows made a point of order that the initial subdivision plan had not been approved by the Planning Board so therefore it could not be part of the Public Hearing. After a lengthy discussion, the Planning Board agreed to suspend their rules; go out of the Public Hearing and into the regular meeting to hear the initial plans and then go back out and allow the Public Hearing to continue; which they did. Of course, Don Fellows could not have brought this up prior to the approval of the agenda. Apparently, Fellows wanted to show everyone how smart he is and how stupid everyone else is. The Planning Board bounced this around just like a ball between the Public Hearing and the regular meeting.

In the end, Premier Development was allowed to continue moving rocks and gravel in and out of the pit by a vote of 5-0; the Open Door Bible Church could rent the space with the condition they must produce a landscaping plan and an acceptable rental sign by a vote of 3-1-1 with Francis Drake voting against and Daniel Nezol abstaining. Both of these men felt this was adding too much on the church for no apparent reason. 

Look at the town owned property at 3 Village street and close to the Fire Station (the house the town burned down) and tell me where all the landscaping is there?

During the regular meeting, the Planning Board could not agree on whether or not to approve the subdivision of Wayne Ricker’s property. So the Planning Board agreed to go on a walk-through of the site on June 6^th before making a decision.

After all of this chaos, the meeting turned to the idea by the Town Manager to hire a Planner for the town at $20,000 dollars. Don Fellows mentioned it was not $20,000 dollars because there were matching funds available. Since Don is on the Advisory Board, I am going to assume he knows what he is talking about. Steve Warren had a very interesting point. Steve asked why, if the town is already paying AVCOG and MMA, why not utilize them and save the $20,000 plus. Steve also stated he had been in touch with the State of Maine Planner and he was willing to help the town for “FREE”. I have always like “FREE”.

This is a great point Steve makes. Why is the Town Manager asking to utilize more of our tax dollars for a Planner when we are already paying MMA and have AVCOG available for assistance? Also if the State of Maine Planner is available to help for FREE then why spend our tax dollars?

Larry Fillmore

Concerned Citizen