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Dear Editor: The Sheepscot River and its inhabitants are living beings that are part of our community and we are part of theirs. They deserve and are entitled to the respect, protection, value and inclusion, as are all who make their homes here in. ....
Mon, 03/15/2021 - 3:15pm Dear Editor: Alna residents will be voting to accept or reject changes to their Shoreland Zoning Ordinance on March 27. Proponents of the changes have yet to persuade many of us that they’re necessary and that they’ll bring improvements, not make matters worse. Fast-tracking amendments without seeking public buy-in isn’t a sound strategy for change. The amended ordinance would give Alna’s Planning Board broad authority to allow permanent, water-dependent structures in and along the town’s waterways. By not including guidelines, the proposal opens up a host of concerns about what will or won’t be allowed. In addition to docks and ramps, water-dependent structures include those built for extracting irrigation or drinking water, for channeling rainwater runoff; they can include marinas or fish processing plants. Will the citizen-volunteers on the planning board be willing to take on the battles that result from easing these r ....
Mon, 03/15/2021 - 4:30pm Dear Editor: The proposed amendment to Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance would give the Planning Board discretion to permit new permanent structures in the river, but would not offer any guidance for exercising that discretion. This oversight is really important. It ignores how the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance is intended to work, and is bound to cause new, unintended problems. The very first sentence of the section of the ordinance that contains the Table of Land Uses states that all land use activities that appear in the table “shall conform with all of the applicable land-use standards” in the section that follows. In fact, the single-page Table of Land Uses in the existing ordinance is followed by more than 18 pages of land-use standards describing what, specifically, the Planning Board is required to consider when reviewing each application. Yet the proposed amendment doesn’t provide any such standards for the new permanent ....
Mon, 03/01/2021 - 4:15pm Dear Editor: Alna residents have supported strong protection for the Sheepscot River since at least 1974. That’s when Alna adopted its first Shoreline Zoning Ordinance. The very first sentence of the Alna Comprehensive Plan, also adopted in 1974, says ”the first and most easily recognized goal is that of safeguarding the beauty and natural resources of Alna, the Sheepscot River and its banks, our wooded areas, open spaces and clean air.” In 1993, residents revised Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance into the form it has today. Strong protections for the Sheepscot continued, including a prohibition on permanent structures in or along ....
Proposed rezone needed for expansion of Monmouth girls’ camp may be headed for Town Meeting After a public hearing, amendments to the town s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance needed to allow Camp Kippewa to expand could be decided upon by residents at this year s Town Meeting. Share MONMOUTH A proposed rezone that could allow the expansion of Camp Kippewa is headed to the town’s selectboard for placement on this year’s Town Meeting warrant. Following a public hearing Thursday, the Planning Board moved the matter on to the selectboard for inclusion on the warrant. Planning Board Chairperson Steve O’Donnell said even if the amendment is placed on the warrant, more steps would have to be taken before the camp could expand. Voters would first have to approve the rezone and Kippewa’s plan would have to be accepted by the Planning Board before coming to realization. ....