Norway to vote tonight on declaring portion of town ‘slum and blighted’

NORWAY — At a special town meeting to be held at 7:00 p.m. tonight, in the town office, Norway citizens will have the opportunity to designate a large section of their downtown area as “slum and blighted.”  However, Town Manager David Holt stresses that this classification should not be confused with any part of this area being “condemned.”

“It sounds like an ominous term,” said Holt, “but it’s just a federal term that’s necessary to apply to an area where you are going to spend CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] money.”

“Slum and blight” is defined in Maine statutes as an area in which there are a substantial number of buildings or improvements that are detrimental to the public health or safety due to any combination of the following: deterioration or obsolescence; inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation or open spaces; overcrowding; conditions that endanger life or property by fire and other causes; inadequate street layouts; or even where tax delinquency exceeds fair market value.

The area that municipal officers seek to define in this manner includes the entire south side of Main Street, from Water Street to the area just across from Tannery Street.  From there, the blighted area will extend back around to Water Street by following the Pennesseewassee Stream, Greenleaf Avenue, Orchard Street, and Pikes Hill.

“There are buildings within that area that easily come under that category,” said Selectman Robert Walker at a recent selectman’s meeting where the issue was raised.  “It doesn’t mean that the whole area is, but it means that there are buildings within that area that are.”

Only a town meeting vote has the authority to bestow the “slum and blight” label.  Selectmen cannot take that action unilaterally.  

Such action, if it is to be done, must be taken before the CDBG application is submitted.  The deadline for that grant is Saturday, January 15, or, two days after the special town meeting.

According to Holt, the only alternative to declaring the area “slum and blighted” that would still leave the town eligible for CDBG funding would be to somehow prove that the grant would benefit “low and moderate income people.”

“And that’s really pretty hard to prove,” said Holt.  “It’s not impossible, but [declaring an area] slum and blight is a much lower threshold [of proof] for a town to achieve.”

In February 2004, the Maine Office of Community and Economic Development rejected a CDBG request from Norway for $400,000.  That grant was a first attempt to secure funding for rehabilitation of the C. B. Cummings Mill behind Main Street at the foot of Pikes Hill.

“One of the criticisms of our application,” said Holt, “was this [CDBG] is a downtown program, and they felt that we didn’t do a clear enough job connecting the mill to the downtown. 

“Those of us that live here, it’s just an accepted thing,” continued Holt.  “But if you are in Augusta, scoring applications, if you can put yourself in their position, we have to make it clear that the mill and the downtown are one and the same.”

That, at least in part, led to the proposed widening of the “slum and blighted” area.

“We need to change the area [of what’s to be designated],” said Holt, “because some of what’s being proposed now is to spend some money on the back side of some of the buildings on Main Street, as well as over at the mill property.”

There are currently plans to submit two separate Community Development Block Grants, totaling $750,000.

One application, filed by the town, is for $500,000.  This is the grant tied to the “slum and blighted” labeling.

“It’s [for] a mixed bag of stuff, it’s kind of a laundry list of things,” said Holt.

The other grant, for $250,000, will be filed by the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.  The Growth Council is a division of EnterpriseMaine, the current owners of the old wood turning mill, which it purchased in December, 2003 for $100,000. 

Portions of both grants will be used to make the Cummings mill site more attractive to redevelopers and private businesses by tearing down certain buildings and upgrading sewer, water and parking facilities for those buildings that remain.

Money for foot bridges linking the mill to Main Street is expected to come from a separate Maine Department of Transportation grant.

Brett Doney, CEO of Enterprise Maine, will be on hand at a public hearing prior to the town meeting to discuss what is proposed to be done with any grant money that might be received as well as other long term plans for the mill property.

After that hearing, voters will have three choices: they can accept the newly designated area as proposed, they can reject the designation out of hand — in which case the town will withhold filing its CDBG request — or, they make alterations to the map that change the area to be designated “slum and blight.

Minot may be missing some figures when it goes to town meeting

MINOT — The annual town meeting in Minot is — generally speaking — not a two hour sprint though the warrant articles employed by some area towns.  In Minot, town meeting tends to be a daylong affair.  And this year, thanks to delays on the state level, voters may be forced to conduct their school funding votes on an entirely different day.

Because Minot belongs to a School Union, and not a School Administrative District, it raises and appropriates money for local schools independently of any other town.  Minot Consolidated School houses grades K-8, while higher grades are tuitioned to the Poland Regional High School.

“Our budget is our own,” said Dean Campbell, chairman of Minot’s board of selectmen. “Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot are only connected by [the] superintendent’s office.”

In addressing any possible perception of budgetary dawdling, School Union 29 Superintendent Nina Schlikin, addressed a letter on the subject — dated December 23 — to the Minot Board of Selectmen.

School systems across Maine, Schlikin said, were waiting to receive state allocation information so that they could begin piecing together their budgets for 2005-2006.

“Although we never have actual figures from the state until late spring,” Schlikin wrote, “we have been able to anticipate an approximate revenue because we had a pattern of funding that was familiar and somewhat predictable.

Schlikin went on to detail some of the obstacles that might prevent the school union from providing voters with solid numbers to vote on in time for Minot’s annual town meeting in March.

“. . . We have a new funding formula which is based on state averages, not expenditures, as in the past; there are dedicated targeted and weighted areas; there are new funding formulas for special education, transportation, and vocational education,” she wrote.

Schlikin also cited uncertainty over whether the state legislature will approve Education Commissioner Susan Gendron’s proposal to fund “essential programs and services” at 84 percent in the 2006 fiscal year.  This figure, Schlikin said, is a portion of the 55 percent of all educational funding that voters had requested of the state in a June, 2004 referendum vote.

In addition, Schlikin voiced concern over a bill currently winding its way through the State House: LD.1, “An Act to Increase State Share of Educational Costs, Reduce Property Taxes and Reduce Government Spending At All Levels.” 

“We also do not know what additional action the legislature may make,” wrote Schlikin of the bill, which is “scheduled for passage” on January 20, provided that it receives a two-thirds vote.

Maine state officials predict the state budget shortfall for 2005 to be $127 million or more.

Campbell stated that municipal officers had recently held a workshop with school officials regarding the lack of fiscal information.

“We are probably going to go to town meeting without any hard numbers for the school,” said Campbell.  “The town report actually won’t have any school figures in it.”

Campbell listed two available options.  Both would include approving and printing the appropriate articles regarding the school as part of the town meeting warrant, but leaving blanks in place of any actual numbers.

Minot’s annual town report goes to press on January 30.  The report will not be mailed to all households this year.  Instead, local residents will be able to pick-up a copy of the report at the town office.

If school funding figures are made available before the town meeting, an addendum would be published to be presented to voters at that time.  If, on the other hand, selectmen are still not able to fill in the blanks, the meeting would then be recessed until such time as sufficient information is provided by school administrators.

According to Campbell, recessing the town meeting will be the preferred method of handling the situation, as that would preclude changes, other than the addition of hard numbers, to the articles.

“If we hold a [later] special town meeting, we could have new items crop up that weren’t on the original warrant,” said Campbell.

Selectman Eda Tripp stated that voters might get a chance to vote on school issues without recessing.  However, she said, the numbers would need to be made available far enough in advance of the town meeting for public hearings to be scheduled.

“I don’t think that the state is going to get it together in time,” said Campbell.  “Knowing the state of Maine, they’re bound to fight about this [educational funding] for at least a month, because there are a lot of political issues. 

“The representation on these [legislative] committees is always a lot higher from the big cities than the towns.  So you’re always a little scared that the scale is going to tilt towards the cities.

“Again, this is typical of the state of Maine,” said Campbell.  “They have no consideration for small towns, when it comes to town meeting [and] knowing where we’re going [fiscally] and how we’re getting there.”

Norway businesswoman to residents: You can't get there from here

NORWAY — Michelle Campbell, owner of Hair Plus, wants people to know that she is not trying to be difficult.  She does not want to alienate anyone.  She is not looking to create controversy.  However, the local businesswoman does want local motorists to become acutely aware of one seemingly small, but vital, detail: the parking lot for her Paris Street hair and tanning salon is not, she points out, an entrance for Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers.

Complaints associated with the Paris Street entrance to Wendy's are nothing new.  Norway found itself embroiled in traffic problems at that location almost as soon as the fast food chain opened locally for business.  In the past year, especially, attention has been focused on 'Do Not Enter' and 'No Left Had Turn' signs that bar those heading into Norway from using the Paris Street entrance.

"If we had it to do all over again," said planning board chairman Dennis Gray, in a telephone interview, "I don't think I'd allow two entrances for Wendy's in the first place."

Still, the damage is done, and since opening her business in April, Campbell estimates that "a half dozen" vehicles per day pull into her parking lot, turn around, and then drive back up to the Wendy's entrance.  This, she feels, is evidence of local residents trying to circumvent the 'No Left Turn' sign by using her lot, which is, as the next curb cut, a convenient off-street location for a quick u-turn.

"The sign that DOT (Maine Department of Transportation) put up is of little value," acknowledged Norway Town Manager David Holt.  "You don't know where you're not supposed to take a left turn.  It [the sign] doesn't seem to help much.  It probably meets the letter of the law that was agreed to at the time, but it doesn't seem to be very practical."

Holt makes it clear that the town wants to be supportive of Campbell's' concerns, and of her new business.

"That building that she has built there is very pretty.  They've done a nice job with it, " said Holt.  "It fits in nice with the buildings on the street.  They took pains with it.  It's too bad that she's having troubles."

Campbell too is very happy with the location, noting that her attempt to bring a "stand-alone" salon to the Oxford Hills area has met with solid public support.  Business, she says, has been "phenomenal," with all three chairs full, and all three stylists booked almost constantly.

"We're mobbed," she said.

That burgeoning success means that her small parking lot, with room enough for only ten cars, is full most of the time.  This leaves little room for rapid turn-arounds, even if, as Holt noted, the practice is not, technically, illegal.

However, those zipping in and out of her lot are only a small part of the problem, observed Campbell.  There are also those who, judging by their rate of speed, seem to think that the Hair Plus parking area is actually the entrance for the Wendy's drive-thru.

"You would think that they'd realize Wendy's would not have a dirt entrance," said Campbell referring to the yet unpaved lot.  "I've seen dust and gravel flying from people coming in so fast."

But the vehicular atrocities do not stop there.  Apart from the rate of speed with which some drivers enter her parking lot, Campbell refers to more serious problems.  She estimates that, since opening her doors, approximately 25 to 30 motorists have not bothered to correct their mistake upon realizing that the Hair Plus parking area does not connect to the Wendy's lot.  These drivers, she said, have simply chosen to drive across the expanse of newly landscaped grass that separates the two businesses.

"One lady said 'Oh, I didn't realize it until I hit the curb,'" recalls the petite 30-year old Campbell, who had rushed out of her business to confront the offender.  "I was like, 'Did you see the grass?  Grass is not an entrance, honey!"

Campbell is quick to point out the irony created by those who are, at least nominally, obeying posted signage when using her lot as an alternate route.  Many commuters, Campbell said, simply ignore the signs and illegally turn into the Wendy's entrance anyway.  While interviewing Campbell last Thursday, at her salon, this reporter was among a dozen witnesses who observed a Wendy's delivery truck — with large blue lettering declaring it to belong to Willow Run Foods — make the prohibited turn.  This is a common occurrence, said Campbell, who cited Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings as the most likely times to view the spectacle.

But Campbell's biggest concern is for safety.  Her agreement with the town requires that she maintain a public easement, allowing local students at the Oxford Hill Comprehensive High School to traverse her property.  Campbell fears that, if corrective action is not taken soon, one of the motorists charging through her lot is eventually going to hurtle headlong into a group of kids walking home from school.

Campbell believes that alterations to signage in the area might alleviate some of the issues.  The large Wendy's sign on Paris Street, along with the access road to the restaurant, actually predates her business.  Both are on her property, and were included as part of an existing easement when she purchased the lot from Tony Morra.  Morra still owns the property where Wendy's is located.

Gray was not able to recall why the planning board allowed Morra to put in this easement, or why it had been deemed preferable to simply having him convey to the Wendy's lot a portion of the lot he would later sell to Campbell.

Campbell says that she understood the easement was there when she purchased her property, but that she did not think it would become "this big of a problem."

Apart from the fact that Campbell receives no financial compensation from Wendy's for the easement on her property, the sign that beat her to the corner has created certain other issues.  Because Norway only allows one sign per lot, and since Wendy's already had a sign on the lot when Hair Plus opened, Campbell has not been able to erect a sign for her own business.

"Every business should have their own sign, it makes perfect sense to me," said Holt.

However, Gray stated that Campbell was aware of the easement when she purchased the property, and that she would have to follow local ordinances which would require her to pay a fee to erect a second sign announcing her own business.

And, because Campbell's husband Randy, who is a contractor, was forced to put the building "right up against the setbacks" in order to accommodate her parking lot, the Wendy's sign actually comes close to being directly in front of her salon. 

Campbell noted that "a half dozen people" have actually come into her salon inquiring if they were in Wendy's.  At that, Campbell silently gestured around her establishment, where three women sat in various stages of remodeling.  It was an expression meant to convey her frustration.  'Does this look like a fast-food joint?" her raised eyebrows seemed to say.

Barring an agreement to move the Wendy's sign closer to the corner, Campbell's other proposed solution would be to give in to those who insist on making the left hand turn into Wendy's.  She stated that she would be willing to enlarge the easement for Wendy's if it meant widening the access road enough to allow the entry of cars coming from both directions. 

"The way they have it laid out now is just ridiculous," Campbell  said.

Unfortunately, this solution is unlikely to fly with the planning board.  According to Gray, when the access road for Wendy's had first been proposed, a traffic study had been conducted.  The result was that MDOT declared Paris Street would have to be widened to create a new turning lane.  That requirement led to the current configuration compromise and would, Gray said, still apply.

Still, Gray noted that the planning board would be willing to listen to any other solution that might come along.  Campbell currently has her attorney seeking a dialogue with representatives from Wendy's, who could not be reached by press time for a comment.  Depending on the outcome of those discussions, Campbell does then intend to address the planning board.

In the meantime, Campbell has an important message for drivers who prioritize hunger over hairstyle.

"People just need to be careful," she said.  "They need to know that the middle of my parking lot is the right-of-way for students."

Will Minot approve a road to nowhere?

MINOT — The Minot recreation committee, recently created in March 2004, has developed a plan to construct new hiking trails on town owned property.  As a starting point for this project, they will seek $137,500 from voters at the town meeting in March, with the majority of this funding earmarked for construction of a 2,000-foot access road into the area where trailheads will be built at a later time.

“It’s [about] getting the area access, getting people walking around back there,” said Dean Campbell, a member of the recreation committee who is also chairman of the town’s board of selectmen.

Campbell was referring to the committee’s strategy of developing the project in phases, starting with the access road.  While it may seem odd to begin with an access road that, at least for a period of time, will not access anything, committee members theorize that this will be the best way to secure public support for later construction of the trails themselves.

“We’ve got to get the interest into it first,” said committee member Candice Benwitz.  “After getting that road in there, and getting people back in there to see that field, is when we’ll see the interest [needed for continuing the project,]”

“85-percent of the town has no idea what is down there,” declared Jim Chesare, putting it another way.

What is down there, committee members say, is a large area of relatively flat farmland, mostly already cleared, with an “interesting terrain” that includes many old stone walls.  As a professional engineer, Benwitz has already donated her time and equipment towards conducting a survey of the land.  Based on her recommendations, the access road will lead to what she described as the optimal location not only for trail heads, but also for the eventual addition of three new ball fields.

The 146-acre municipal property is comprised of six contiguous lots obtained by the town over a period of 30 years.  The two main, and oldest, parcels are the site of the Minot Consolidated School on Shaw Hill Road and the town office complex on Woodman Hill Road. 

Added to these properties in 2002 were two additional lots, known locally as the “Old Morrison Farm” and the “Hanscomb property.”     

“We bought it [the two lots] for recreational use and to tie school property in with municipal property we already had,” explained Campbell.

The fifth lot is a small parcel of land at the corner of Woodman Hill Road and Shaw Hill Road that Minot acquired “five or six years ago.”   Recently added to these five lots was a small area of wetlands and vernal pools donated to the town.  This last lot is situated nearly in the center of the site, wedged in between the Morrison and Hanscomb lots.

Most of the new construction, where recreation committee members would like to get residents “walking around,” is planned for the Morrison Farm lot. 

The proposed access road will start with a 100-foot by 200-foot expansion to the school parking lot.  From there, a dirt road will lead into the Morrison Farm property.  

One minor complication for the project, according to Town Administrator Gregory E. Gill, is that the Morrison farmland had previously been accepted as a 14-lot subdivision prior to its takeover by the town.  This development plan, known as the Hodge Hill subdivision, will need to be “unregistered” with the Androscoggin Registry of Deeds before any other use can go forward.

The new use that recreation committee members have in mind has its origins in a survey mailed to all Minot households in August.

1,056 letters went out asking residents which types of projects they would like the committee to focus on.  Only 61 completed forms were returned.  However, committee member Lisa Chesare described this 6-percent response as “better than the average return.”

Among the choices included in the questionnaire were ball fields, tennis courts, rollerblading, skateboarding, walking and hiking trails, and bike trails, as well as that dependable catchall: “Other.”

Of the respondents, 25 listed walking trails as their highest priority.  22 requested new soccer fields.  19 wanted “Babe Ruth League” ball fields and 15 were inclined towards biking trails.

Based on this survey, the recreation committee opted to start with walking trails as the best use of the town land, and to start with the access road as the best means of making that plan a reality.

Minot Road Commissioner Arlan Saunders had estimated construction of the access road, as well as an addition to the school parking lot, if “built to town specs,” at $150,000.  This price would have included paving, a concept later discarded.

One integral component in launching the project out of the wishing stage is the assumption that matching grants can be secured.  

“They [voters] will look at $250,000 [for the entire project] and they’re going to have a coronary,” said Campbell.  “It’s pretty much guaranteed. 

“[But] if we have all of our numbers together, [if we] say [to voters] we’re going for a 50 percent grant.  They might go for it.”

Assuming voters do “go for it,” the committee intends to pursue a National Park Service grant that will reimburse the town for 50 percent of the access road construction.  A warrant approved by selectmen at their December 20 meeting will ask voters to appropriate $100,000 for this purpose. 

Then, in the fall, the committee will apply for a Maine Recreational Trail grant.  If awarded, this grant will reimburse as much as $30,000 (80 percent) of the $37,500 voters will be asked to raise towards trail construction.

According to Gill, grant requirements would include approval of the site by the State Planning Office and the Bureau of Parks and Lands.  The town would also have to establish an oversight committee and sign a contract agreeing to retain the land, to allow public use, to guarantee regular maintenance, and to install a plaque acknowledging receipt of the grants.

Gill also noted that the town would have to raise at town meeting a sum equal to the entire cost of the project.  This is because both grants would not be paid until four to six weeks after the project is completed and the appropriate forms are filed.  

“You can use certain in-kind funds for the half the town will still be responsible for,” said Gill.  “You can use the highway department.  So you can come up with some of the [town’s] match that way.”

If voters do approve the requested amounts, it could have an impact on their mil rate.  Gill estimated that, with the mil rate currently at $14 per $1,000 of accessed value, property owners could expect an average household increase of $70 to their property tax bills. 

Still, the recreation committee is serious enough about the project that some minor work has already begun.

“They [highway department vehicles] are hauling stuff down in there right now anyway.  What are they doing?” asked Jim Chesare.

“Any decent ditching material, I’m having them start filling down in there,” answered Campbell.

“Oh, don’t you dare let them fill that wetland,” hissed Benwitz.