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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 146, No. 39
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
September 24, 2015
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVECENTS
‘An attractive nuisance’
Board evokes dangerous building law
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen took the first step Tuesday toward declaring a vacant house at 15 Walker Street a dangerous building, subject to demolition if the problems aren’t corrected. The board voted 5–0 to start the process under state law, which requires a public hearing and final vote by the Board of Selectmen, at the urging of Police Chief Richard Stillman. “The residence at 15 Walker Street has been abandoned for many years and has many open/broken windows and doors, allowing anyone to enter,” Stillman wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to Town Manager Bob Peabody. “I have been told by neighbors the residence is used by young people as a hangout, and has become an attractive nuisance.” Stillman said the home, owned by Dean Palli of Wellesely, Mass. since 2011, “would be a significant fire haz-
EASY ACCESS — The many open or broken doors and windows at this house at 15 Walker Street, Bridgton, have made it a frequent hangout for local teens. ard, and constitutes a health and safety hazard because of nonexistent maintenance, dilapidation and abandonment and is dangerous to life and property.” Code Enforcement Officer Robbie Baker agreed with Stillman’s assessment. “The building appears to be unsafe, due to windows being broken out, doors wide open, and electrical
wiring exposed,” Baker wrote in a memo to the board. Peabody said Palli owes $1,975 in unpaid taxes, and “the property will be in legal jeopardy in December.” Notification of the board’s decision will be given to Palli, said Peabody, and the owner will be able to testify in his defense at the public hearing before any decisions are made by selectmen. The state law on dangerous buildings gives municipalities the authority to declare a building as dangerous, and to seek an order of demolition by filing proceedings in Superior Court. If the court rules in the town’s favor, Palli would be charged with paying the town’s costs for demolition. On Tuesday, however, sentiment among board members appeared to favor seeking a negotiated resolution with the owner. The property includes a one and three-quarter-story house NUISANCE, Page 8A
Revamped sewer rules to voters
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton voters will decide in November whether to enact major upgrades to the town’s 1995 Sewage Ordinance designed to free up capacity for new downtown business development and pave the way for state and federal funding for a five-mile expansion to the line. Selectmen, on Tuesday, gave their stamp of approval to amendment language drawn up by the town’s engineers for the sewer system, Woodard & Curran, in con-
sultation with the Wastewater Committee and the town’s lawyer. A public hearing has been set for Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 6 p.m., in the downstairs meeting room of the Bridgton Municipal Complex. The long-awaited amendments include a whole new section on management of the system, which currently serves around 55 users, and a new term, that of “Grandfathered Allocation Holder.” It is that latter term, which identifies users who reserved a sewer allocation after September 2010 but currently
aren’t using all of it, that has become a point of controversy in town. In June, a citizen’s petition sought, but failed, to lodge a pre-emptive strike against the amendments because of concerns that grandfathered allocation holders were being unfairly treated. The amended ordinance does away with the allocation system for future use after Sept. 1, 2015, in favor of a system of sewer assessments, fees and service charges based on actual metered use. In addition, a “readiness-to-
serve” fee would be charged to those persons along the sewer line who are currently using a private septic system. If their system ever failed, those persons would be required to hook up to the system. Grandfathered allocation holders who are holding their excess allocations in reserve, in anticipation that they may someday expand their business or change the use of their property to require more sewer capacity, would be invited to sell their excess SEWER, Page 8A
Planning Board goes paperless
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Five months after receiving their tablets, members of the Bridgton Planning Board are now ready to use them. More or less. “You’ve heard of culture shock — how about tablet shock? I’m deep into it,” said member Dee Miller at a meeting around a month ago. “I wish someone would talk to my tablet,” said Phyllis Roth, another of the board’s digital neophytes. “I turned it on and it turned itself off.” Planning Board Secretary Georgiann Fleck, however, was resolute. “It’s time we meet our obligation, to discontinue use of paper applications and start using the tablets.” Board Chairman Steve Collins saw there was no turning back. “Oh, oh. The boom is going down.” The board actually agreed to switch to electronic tab-
lets two years ago, when Mitch Berkowitz was still the town manager. Knowing that selectmen in the neighboring towns of Naples and Casco had both gone paperless, Berkowitz asked both the Bridgton Selectmen and the Planning Board if they wanted to do the same. Bridgton Selectmen weren’t interested. But the Bridgton Planning Board agreed to take the plunge — making them the first planning board in the region to go paperless. The switch will greatly reduce paper waste and the “immense” amount of time each month that it takes Fleck to copy and collate 15 agenda packets — seven for the planning board and five for the department heads. Fleck researched grants for used tablets, but came up empty. Then she learned there were funds available PAPERLESS, Page 6A
By Emily Butterfield Contributing Writer FRYEBURG — It appears the town will still be unable to transfer ownership of the Red Brick Building on Main Street to the Historical Society. The sale of the building was approved by town voters back in June, but due to the confidential and fragile town documents stored in the building, the sale was unable to be finalized until an alternative was discovered. At the August 20 meeting, Town Manager Sharon Jackson discussed options that would potentially mitigate the problem with few
hardships for the town, such as the existing room that is used for meetings at the town office could be converted into storage space, and holding all selectmen, planning board and economic committee meetings at the American Legion Hall. To do this, it would also require the Public Works Department to be available and the town office would need to be closed to move everything. However, Town Manager Jackson later cited in a following meeting that this would create too large of a difficulty, and rescinded the offer, but made note that they would discuss other options
‘Another winter, no fuel in tank’
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Mary Phillips said she is facing the cold-hard reality of not having home heating fuel this winter. Recently, Phillips and her husband Tom, both of whom are legally disabled, were denied heating assistance from Opportunity Alliance’s LiHeap program. “I have no way to heat my home,” she said, after hearing the discouraging news. The home they rent in Lovell is set up to use propane for heat. The seemingly implausible options before her are: to move out or to freeze. “I’ve dealt with being cold before,” she said. Her husband has suggested that he return to the workforce despite the fact he suffered a work-related injury. Her thought process came across an equally illogical solution: if they were single, their income would be lower. EMPTY , Page 7A
FUTURE FIREFIGHTERS, PERHAPS — Siblings Mylee Grant, five, in the driver’s seat, and Jacoby Grant, seven, check out a fire truck at an open house sponsored by the Naples Fire and Rescue Department. (De Busk Photo)
AEDs placed in public spaces By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — The majority of the time, a person does not wear their heart attack on their sleeve. Most times, the symptoms of a heart attack will go unnoticed or unheeded. A heart attack victim may take note of some symptoms but not tell anyone. But typically, heart problems happen suddenly and with little warning. The Naples Fire and Rescue Department has acquired five devices that allow bystanders to assist someone suffering from heart problems. The device is called an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The department received a grant from the nonprofit Narragansett Number One Foundation to pay for the
life-saving devices, according to Naples Deputy Chief Mark Scribner. So far, the AEDs have been installed at the Naples Town Office, the Singer Center, the Naples Public Beach, and at the Umbrella Factory he said. Additionally, the piece of property acquired by the town to store fire and rescue department equipment will be a site for an AED. The lot is located off Route 11, and was formerly used for storage and vehicle maintenance by the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT). One other popular public space is being eyed for the remaining AED. Department personnel have been working with David Allenson, the owner of AEDS, Page 2A
Red Brick Building sale hits snag with the Historical Society. At the September 17 meeting, Town Manager Jackson said she spoke with Nancy Ray, president of the Historical Society about what their plans were for the building. They hope to turn the brick building into a doll museum. “One thing we could do is [Nancy] could store the dolls until we had a place.” Ray inquired whether or not they would be able to have someone do private work on the inside of the building if all of the boxes were moved to one side, but Town Manager Jackson was unable to allow that since
“We can’t guarantee someone isn’t going to go through those boxes.” The town would be open to the possibility of having a private contractor hired by the Historical Society paint the outside, but the person in question would need to be insured with Workman’s Compensation coverage before they started work to prevent any liability of lawsuit if they were injured. While no final decision has been reached yet, it appears the Historical Society, who has been waiting to use the building since June, is finally able to start the basics of their work.
AN AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR (AED) — such as this one have been installed in the Umbrella Factory Outlet Supermarket sometime in the near future. (De Busk Photo)
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