An unseasonably warm day didn’t keep North Haven residents from coming out for the annual town meeting on March 11. Over 80 people attended the meeting at the town’s Community Building. It was a true community affair with North Haven Community School seniors selling homemade soups and desserts at lunchtime.
Voters approved a $1,168,820 budget, an increase of 7.6 percent from 2005. All 76 articles on the warrant passed, including a proposal to borrow $1.75 million through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank to repave the island’s roads. The town will also use $500,000 from a paving reserve account. John Marcarelli, Town Administrator, explained that this is an opportune time to repave the roads since the state will already be on-island resurfacing North Haven’s one state-owned road. An additional cost savings will be in the transport of asphalt from neighboring Vinalhaven, where a paving project will be completed this summer. This article generated a great deal of discussion from citizens who were concerned about the high cost of the project, whether drainage problems would be addressed, and if the smooth roads would cause speeding to increase. In the end, the measure passed by a large majority. The island’s roads have not been repaved in 15 years.
Another much discussed item on the agenda was the proposal to put a 180-day moratorium on the processing of permits for subdivisions. The Planning Board and Board of Selectmen recommended approval of the measure. Article 32 read, “…the moratorium is needed, because the application of the existing comprehensive plan, the land use ordinance, and the subdivision ordinance of the town is inadequate to prevent serious public harm from residential and commercial development in the town of North Haven.” Some residents felt that the measure was unnecessary and were concerned that it would prohibit all growth in the town. John Dietter, Planning Board member, stated that the measure was not anti-growth and would only cover subdivisions. Dietter said that the intent was to give the town adequate time to review its existing land use ordinance and modify it if necessary. He added that the article was developed in response to concerns that large-scale residential development, as recently proposed in Islesboro, Rockport, Rockland and Camden, could happen in North Haven. The article passed overwhelmingly.
All remaining articles passed with little discussion. The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
Stacy Gambrel is an Island Institute Fellow on North Haven.