Newsletter

CLIFTON NEWS LETTER
Volume 1, Issue 1 Spring 2010

ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
SATURDAY MARCH 20, 2010
Voting 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. for Select and School Board Member
Meeting Starts 1:30PM
Absentee ballots are available at the Town Office.
The Town Report, with budget and articles, will soon be available at Clifton Country Store and at the Town Office. Bring to the meeting please.

CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE
SELECT BOARD
Nancy Hatch
Brian Melvin

SCHOOL BOARD
Jessica Gray

THE CLIFTON PLANNING BOARD INVITES YOU TO AN INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING ON THE PROPOSED LAND USE ORDINANCE

WHEN: THURSDAY, MARCH 4 TIME: 7:00 PM
WHERE: CLIFTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING

LAND USE REGULATIONS AND PROPOSED ORDINANCE
The planning board has been working for some time on developing a land use and zoning ordinance for the town. You can view their work at http://sites.google.com/stie/cliftonmaineplanningboard/home. You are encouraged to attend the monthly Planning Board Meetings or workshops as they are posted.

QUESTION: WHAT IS A LAND USE ORDINANCE?

ANSWER: A LAND USE ORDINANCE COMBINES ALL THE TOWN’S ORDINANCES THAT ARE ADMINISTERED BY THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AND THE PLANNING BOARD AND THE BOARD OF APPEALS INTO ONE COMPREHENSIVE AND COORDINATED SYSTEM OF REGULATION.

WHY? TO GET RID OF INCONSISTENCIES AND CONFLICTS BETWEEN
ORDINANCES AND TO MAKE A MORE FLEXIBLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE PROCESS FOR THE APPLICANT AND FOR THE TOWN

One of the most important questions being asked of the Planning Board about the Land Use Ordinance:
“Isn’t the Land Use Ordinance (LUO) stricter than the Ordinances we have now?”

 Provisions of the LUO that are the same or similar to existing ordinances:

• Single family homes are allowed everywhere in Town.
• The Code Enforcement Officer permits single and two family homes everywhere except in the Shore land, where site plan review by the Planning Board is needed.
• Shore land zoning applies to 250’ around great ponds and freshwater wetlands and 75’ along streams.
• Preservation of open space is encouraged.
• Land with steep slopes is not developable.
• Compliance with performance standards for commercial and industrial development ensures that other landowners are not unreasonably harmed.

 Provisions of the LUO that are less restrictive than existing ordinances:

• Multi-family housing is allowed.
• Setbacks are reduced on local roads and private ways.
• Lot size and setbacks can be reduced for a cluster subdivision.
• Owners of non-conforming undeveloped lots of record in the Shore land Resource Protection District can apply for a ‘special exception’ building permit.
• Many proposed small businesses can qualify for Home Occupation Level 1 (allowed without a permit) or Home Occupation Level 2 (requires CEO permit only) instead of Planning Board non-residential site plan review.
• Landowners with enough acreage but not enough road frontage can create a lot in the back (a ‘flag lot’).
• Accessory residential units are allowed.

 Provisions of the LUO that are more restrictive than existing ordinances:

• By state mandate, more freshwater wetlands are designated “Resource Protection” as high or moderate value waterfowl and wading bird habitat.
• Most moderate and high impact commercial and industrial development is restricted to certain designated areas of Town.
• Mobile home parks (but not individual mobile homes) are more restricted in location.

 Significant improvements that the LUO would bring to the Town:

• More and better mapping with digital copies available.
• One set of uniform definitions.
• On-line accessibility of ordinances and information.
• Clearer separation and coordination of CEO and Planning Board duties and responsibilities.
• Shore land and Floodplain provisions compliant with state and federal mandates.
• Reduces Planning Board involvement with smaller projects and gives CEO more latitude.
• Improved and more practical groundwater protection wording.
• Public hearings for interested parties input will be required for specific development such as; industrial wind energy facilities, adult businesses, substance abuse facilities, sexual offender clinics, etc.
• One flexible and multi-purpose application procedure instead of multiple rigid and single-purpose procedures.
• Clarifies vague environmental impact statement requirement with clear and concise guidelines for the applicant.

SPRING CLEAN UP
Spring clean up is going to held June 5th and 6th. For additional information on allowed materials and to pre register if you have not been to clean up before, contact the Town Office.

FOOD CUPBOARD
The Clifton Community Food Bank has been established at the Clifton Baptist Church. The food bank is associated with the Good Shepard Food Bank program in Augusta. The food cupboard is open to all residents on Mondays from 2 p.m. -4 p.m., weather and holidays permitting. Donations are also welcomed.

THE NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the first printing of the Clifton Newsletter, a communication method developed to inform residents. Suggestions for the Newsletter are welcome and will be included where appropriate. When making a submission, please include your name and a phone number so that we may contact you if we need further explaination or clarification. In order to produce this newsletter at reduced costs, the town is seeking business owners who would like to help sponsor the newsletter. Please contact the town office or send your business card to be reviewed by the board. For $25 your advertisement will reach many homes in Clifton. All material is reviewed and approved by the select board prior to publication.

Please support our local sponsors!

TOWN MEETING

Mark your calendars the Annual Town Meeting is the third Saturday of March and starts at 1:30PM.

Education

Well it has been a while my friends and the winter has been long. A lot is being undertaken or talked about regarding our current state of education, that of SAD 63 and the RSU or AOS. I would like to provide a couple of ideas that one might consider. First Clifton has no schools, we are currently a member of SAD 63, of which we could withdraw. Paying over $600,000 a year for 150 students works out to about $4,000 per student. Yet we face over hour bus rides to school, no after school program like Otis offers and there always seems to be turmoil in the district.

How about we withdraw from SAD63 and look at doing things a little different.
1. How about forming an AOS with CSD8, Otis, Amherst, Aurora, Osborn, Great Pond and Clifton.
2. How about no school - so we just tuition our kids to the school of choice, say either Otis or Eddington or Holbrook, much like we do with High Schools.
3. Maybe we should explore creating an academy like Dover and many others do. Then we recruit world wide for students to help off set costs.

We need good busing, after school, sports programs, homeschool study groups, a community school welcomes and that is open to any groups for use. Extra education or workshops on adult education, or maybe cooking, ATV/Sled safety, firearm safety. We need to get back to "community". The current system treats us like they are doing us a favor - it should be pointed out that we the citizens are in charge and the educators and administrators work for the citizens. I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the education system currently before us, its not all about power and control - it should be about education, boosting our youths adventures and seeing that we can move them ahead, hopefully college and a better life.