At the polls, Nov. 8

Mon, 09/12/2016 - 12:00pm

Lynda Clancy

ROCKPORT — A three-hour series of public hearings Sept. 8 in Rockport resulted in approval of four municipal proposals that citizens will consider when they go to the polls Nov. 8. They include possibly borrowing of $2 million to help build a new $4 million library; approving a road acceptance ordinance amendment so that Hawthorne Drive will convert from private to public purview; eliminating what some say is an outdated and cumbersome sidewalk ordinance; and signing a contract with the Southern Maine-based ecomaine for disposal of solid waste.

The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. in a filled downstairs conference room at the Rockport Opera House, and each article was vetted fully by the crowd. After the meeting, the Budget Committee agreed, 7 to 1 to recommend the library bond to voters. The opposing vote was cast by Budget Committee member Chris Farley, who said he believed the library project needed further defining, both architecturally and financially.

The town warrant articles are as follows:

ARTICLE 2. Shall an Ordinance entitled, “Ordinance amending the Town of Rockport Road Acceptance Ordinance to allow requests that the Town take ownership of private roads or portions of private roads to be presented to the voters after 25 percent of the abutting lots are developed, provided that any such private road or portion of a private road creates a new linkage between two existing public roads and other conditions are met,” be enacted?

This proposal grew out of a longtime discussion over a particular road in a subdivision off of Old County Road. The Hawthorne Road, which is approximately 2,000 feet in length, is part of the Bay Ridge subdivision Phase Four, and was constructed more than six years ago.

The town had adopted a road acceptance ordinance almost 10 years ago, at a time when there were multiple subdivision constructions underway, with new roads that developers hoped the town would adopt and maintain.

The town voted in 2007 to institute a 50 percent rule, which entailed that 50 percent of the lots abutting a private road proposed for acceptance as a municipal road had to be developed, and include the construction of the principal structure.

Forward to 2015, and the residents of Hawthorne Drive had gradually increased, with new houses, and watched as developments continued on nearby town maintained streets. Their road began to be used as a connector to the nearby roads, but the school buses could no go down it, given that it was a private road.

An effort by Bay Ridge developer Richard Nightingale and residents along Hawthorne Drive worked with the town to propose an amendment to the 2007 road acceptance ordinance, with language that says: “If the private road (or portion of the private road) proposed for acceptance as a municipal road extends between two municipal roads, connecting those two roads, then the 50 percent threshold requirement for applications road acceptance under section 401 [the aforementioned 50 percent rule] shall be reduced to 25 percent.”

At the Sept. 8 public hearing, multiple residents of the road, along with Nightingale, spoke in favor of the amendment.

Jon Duke, a resident of Hawthorne Drive, said the issue has generated a five-year discussion, as long as he has lived on the road.

“A lot of work has gone into this,” he said. “It solves an issue that is individual to our neighborhood, but is more universal.”

Duke said the 10-year-old road acceptance ordinance solved a problem at that time, but the amendment, he said, “meets the needs of today, and the town that we are trying to grow into.”

Other residents encouraged the Select Board to put the amendment on the ballot, citing concerns with the school bus routes.

All the kids are going to be up on Old County road, waiting for the bus, on a busy road with all the people going back and forth to Walmart.,” said one resident. “It is a safety issue.”

Robert Duke, who is moving from Rockport Village to Hawthorne Drive, said the matter: “comes down to common sense. There area currently seven houses between those two roads, well above the 25 percent now.”

Another Rockport resident, who lives on Pine Brae Lane, which accommodates the sizeable Hammond Brae hillside subdivision in West Rockport, said she was partly in favor of the amendment and partly opposed. She advocated for an ordinance that relaxed the stricter road acceptance policies for the sake of other subdivisions whose landowners have to maintain private roads.

When it came time for the Select Board to deliberate putting the measure on the ballot, member Brendan Riordan said: “Everything I’ve hard is that this road should be a town road. Is this the right mechanism for making this a town road. Is there any other mechanism?”

Board member Ken McKinley responded that the town looked at inserting a clause into the ordinance, but “the concern with that was that it was too broad and would gather other things in there.”

In the end, the Rockport Select Board voted in favor of placing the amendment before voters on Nov. 8. If passed, then the Hawthorne Drive residents and developer would need to work to place the actual Hawthorne Road acceptance proposal before voters in June, or later.

ARTICLE 3. Shall an Ordinance entitled, “Ordinance repealing the Town of Rockport Sidewalk Ordinance,” be enacted?

The proposal to repeal a 1996 sidewalk ordinance originated after the actual ordinance was unearthed by members of the Ordinance Review Committee. No one in town had institutional memory that it even existed.

The ordinance, “Relating to Sidewalk Construction and Preservation,” encourages and guides sidewalk construction so that it directs growth the developed areas, and that well-constructed sidewalks “contribute to community aesthetics and social good and help to preserve the town’s traditional villages and neighborhood areas.”

But the town’s Planning Board agreed with the general and growing consensus that the 1996 ordinance is cumbersome and should be entirely rewritten.

At the Sept. 8 public hearing, Geoff Scott, chairman of the Camden-Rockport Pathways Committee, said he was neither for or against its repeal, but encouraged the Select Board to get the pathways committee involved with the crafting of a new sidewalk ordinance.

The board indicated that it would direct the Ordinance Review Committee to write a new ordinance governing pedestrian walkways, if the current ordinance was repealed Nov. 8.

There was some discussion about rewriting the current ordinance, and effort that had begun earlier this year, but then dropped by the Select Board in favor of drafting an entirely new ordinance.

The Select Board voted unanimously to place it on the ballot.

ARTICLE 4. To see if the Town will vote to:

(1) Approve the design, construction and equipping of a new library building at 1 Limerock Street, including demolition of existing improvements on the property and other site work (the “Project”);

(2) Appropriate a sum not to exceed $2,000,000 for the costs of the Project;

(3) To fund the appropriation in (2) above, and, provided the Town has received donation commitments or funds from other revenue sources in an amount at least as large as $2 million, authorize the Treasurer and the Chairman of the Select Board to issue, at one time or from time to time, general obligation securities of the Town of Rockport, Maine, including temporary notes in anticipation of the sale thereof and future refunding obligations, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $2,000,000, and to delegate to the Treasurer and Chairman of the Select Board the authority and discretion to fix the date(s), maturity(ies), denomination(s), interest rate(s), places(s) of payment, call(s) for redemption, current or advance refunding(s) of the securities, form(s), and other details of said securities, including execution and delivery of said securities against payment therefore, execution of certificates, loan agreements and any other documents reasonably related thereto, and to provide for the sale thereof.

“It’s going to be great,” said Rockport resident Heather Mackay, at the Sept. 8 public hearing on the library expenditure proposal. “Do it.”

The library project entails constructing a new $4 million library on the site of the existing library. While the town would raise up to $2 million from taxpayers, the other $2-plus million would derive from a separate private fundraising effort, now underway by Rockport citizens.

The design and architectural details of the new library, although not completely finished, calls for a two-story building on the site where the existing, albeit vacated, library sits. The estimated interest rate would be 3.8 percent on the $2 million bond, with a total payout of $891,381 in interest over a 20-year period.

Mackay was joined by several other residents, including Cheryl Lietky, who said: “The library discussion has been a vigorous discussion in last two years. Although I was initially enthusiastic about the RES site, it’s clear that the voters have chosen existing site, and have made clear they want a much bigger space. There is a compelling argument made of the inability to use existing building. I think it’s very worth it.”

Lietky, who is on the fundraising committee to generate the other $2 million-plus to help construct the library, said the project is “a true partnership of town and elective giving.”

Some money will be contributed by Rockport residents and some from surrounding communities and foundations, she said.

But she took issue with the experimental insertion of one line in the proposed article that mandated the private donations had to be committed by Dec. 31, 2019. That insertion was suggested by some of the Select Board, including Chairman Bill Chapman. But he said at the public hearing that the town attorney had advised against putting it in the article, and imposing a time limit on a public project.

He cited changing economic conditions and rising construction costs, should the project drag out for more than the anticipated several years.

“We felt it would be giving better assurance to public it wouldn’t be dragging on,” he said.

But Lietky, who said the fundraising committee hadn’t heard of the proposed 2019 deadline until that evening, responded: “I’m disturbed that this is coming up only now. Everyone is concerned about raising money in timely fashion.”

She said the town is currently: “spending $40,000 a year renting an unappealing space. That’s a driver.”

Some thought the fundraising would have helpful tool with a deadline,” said Select Board member Ken McKinley. “Economic and other concerns could be very different two and half years from now.”

Select Board member Brendan Riordan said the additional line in the warrant did not “represent a consensus decision.”

By discussion’s end, the Select Board agreed that the 2019 fundraising deadline was inappropriate, and withdrew it from the warrant article that they did vote to approve for the Nov. 8 warrant.

“This library has been a long time coming,” said fundraising committee member Joan Welsh. “It’s a compromise. Some people think it’s too big, some people think it is too small. It’s really time, let’s move forward, it’s been a hard issue for our community.”

But Rockport resident Eric Belley advised the town to get its privately raised money in hand before construction begins.

As a former banker in the community for many years, and creating financing packages for nonprofits, he said: “A pledge is a promise and until that pledge is turned into cash, all you have is a promise. I caution anyone who does a capital improvement to get the cash before the shovel goes in the ground.”

Belley said: “I’ve seen far too many projects not funded properly.”

His statements were countered by Town Manager Rick Bates, who said, “there is a mechanism for having a commitment to meet that obligation.”

Welsh said: “A pledge is a legal document and is enforceable. You can go to bank and get loans against pledge. We can absolutely make sure of this through legal opinion. It is considered a legal document.”

“The bond counsel doesn’t allow us to take money until she knows we have all the funds,” said Bates.

Welsh said that it would be “highly unusual to get all the money in at once,” and gauged three to five years.

A few other residents, however, were not so keen about the project.

Judith Graham Burgess said she opposed the warrant article, saying the town plowed forward with proposing a new library without producing documentation that there was mold in the existing library.

Susan Boyce said she was not against libraries, but she did oppose having the town: “pay money to fund this library. M taxes have doubled since we’ve live here.”

She also cited two other public projects on the horizon: a $25 million technology school in Rockland and a new middle school in Camden.

Another woman said the library project would be a tax burden, especially on those with fixed incomes.

“You may be forcing people to leave this area because we can’t make it any more,” she said.

Rockport resident and contractor Allen Mitchell said the $4 million building, at 94,300 square feet, is very expensive, and said neither the town’s building nor capital improvement committee had been convened to consider the project.

He asked, how much per square foot did the project cost. “$300 a square foot?”

“$425,” answered Select Board member Geoff Parker.

“Which is outrageous,” said Mitchell. “Who is looking at specs and real numbers here?”

Bob Duke also commented that the public is looking at building two new schools, and said he was not in favor of the library expenditure.

During the Select Board discussion, Riordan said: “ I respect peoples’ opinions. So much work has gone into this process. To me, it would feel highly obstructionist not to let the largest number of people to cast their votes on this.”

ARTICLE 5. Shall the voters of the Town of (Rockport, Camden, Hope and Lincolnville) authorize the Board of Directors of the Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation to enter into a contract for up to 5 years to dispose of Municipal Solid Waste to commence on or about April 1, 2018, for the fixed price of $57.85 per ton plus annual increases in the Consumer Price Index and on such other terms and conditions that the Board of Directors deem appropriate with ecomaine, a non-profit corporation owned solely by municipalities and located in Portland, Maine?

At June Town Meeting, Rockport residents voted against a similar article, which asked the town if it would accept the recommendation of Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation for handling the disposition of municipal solid waste by ecomaine, of Portland, after the termination of the current contract with Penobscot Energy Recovery Plant, a waste-to-energy incineration facility in Orrington, in 2018.

At the time, the town was debating whether to go instead with Fiberight, Fiberight, a different company proposing an alternative waste disposal technology at a yet-to-be-constructed plant in Hampden.

After the defeat, and the results of the other town meeting votes of Camden, Hope and Lincolnville to endorse of opposed the ecomaine contract, the discussion returned to MCSWC. The board of that nonprofit then reworked contract negotiations with ecomaine, taking the terms from 20 years to five, and reducing the tipping fee. All four towns are again to vote on the new contract Nov. 8.

“This is a good compromise solution to a problem that has great potential,” said Welsh, who served while District 92 representative on the Maine Legislative Environmental and Natural Resources Committee. “I can’t think of any reps who thinks Fiberight is prime time.”

“This allows the best of both worlds,” said Jon Duke, who formerly was Hope Town Administrator until July 2016, when he assumed a similar post in Newcastle.

Rockport resident Heaven Bartlett, who sits on the Rockport Budget Committee, asked, “what happens if we vote no.”

Chapman said: “It goes back to Midcoast Solid Waste for another consideration. If all four [towns] are not in agreement, then it’s back to the board directors to come up with another proposal to go before voters in June.”

Rockport ready to contract with Portland architect

Rockport Select Board to consider library architect choice

Rockport committee to narrow field of library architects Wednesday

Rockport considers site survey, borings at Memorial Park for new library site

• Rockport appoints committee to plan library construction project

• Rockport signs intent to lease Route 1 office for library location

• Rockport talks tonight behind closed doors about Route 1 building lease

• Rockport Select Board to consider leasing Route 1 space for temporary library space

• Rockport Select Board hopes to move library before winter sets in

• Studies are in: Rockport Library building in poor condition, more space needed

• Initial Rockport Library findings: Citizens want improved service, better parking

• Rockport library consultant wants to hear from citizens, presents initial findings April 29