Committee nears completion on comp plan’s first draft
Comprehensive Planning Committee members, from left, Nicholas Barth, Nathaniel Wing, Nell Tharpe and Charles Cunningham listened to consultant Mark Eyerman’s recommendations for putting the final touches on the updated plan. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
Comprehensive Planning Committee members, from left, Nicholas Barth, Nathaniel Wing, Nell Tharpe and Charles Cunningham listened to consultant Mark Eyerman’s recommendations for putting the final touches on the updated plan. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
The Boothbay Comprehensive Planning Committee’s task is near completion. The committee has worked on the comprehensive plan update since spring 2013. After its May 5 meeting, the committee began planning its work schedule toward a November adoption vote.
Once the committee receives additional information for inclusion in the update then, for all purposes, the plan’s draft is done. The committee wants consultant Mark Eyerman to make minor word changes in Chapter 3 and propose a better defined statement regarding the committee’s goal on property taxes.
The committee asked Town Manager Dan Bryer for an updated inventory catalog of historic and significant properties. The committee also asked the planning board and Boothbay Region Water District to create an ordinance limiting excessive water withdrawal within the overlay district, which encompasses Adams Pond and Knickerbocker Lake.
The committee plans on incorporating those additions during its next meeting in two weeks. Once the first draft is ready, the document will be available for a 30-day public review period. A public hearing would follow in July or August.
A review by the selectmen, state and citizens is planned prior to the adoption vote. A final draft will be submitted to the selectmen for review 60 days prior to the November election. If the updated plan is approved by both the state and voters, the town stands a better chance to receive state and federal grants.
“Overall, I’m happy with what we have,” said Charles Cunningham, a committee chairman and selectman. “You guys on the planning board seem to support the plan. So I think at the next selectmen’s meeting we should ask their (the other selectmen) opinion, then send it to the state for review.”
The committee is also grappling with how to deal with a statement regarding the local tax burden. Committee member John Bertolet, who is a Boothbay school committee member, objected to the word “reasonable” in describing taxes. He thought it was too open to interpretation.
The committee debated between using “reasonable” or “stable” before asking Eyerman to provide alternative wording. Eyerman will recommend an alternative statement for adoption during the next meeting.
The committee will meet next at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 18 in the municipal building.
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