Line of sight Work continues at the new Bay of Naples bridge to improve the driving experience Page 2A
Collision course
Inside News
For first time, Lake Region and Fryeburg head into a field hockey game undefeated, top ranked
Page 1C
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www.bridgton.com Vol. 143, No. 39
Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. 32 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
September 27, 2012
(USPS 065-020)
SIXTY CENTS
Avesta files pre-application with town
CONCEPT DRAWINGS for the affordable senior housing project planned by Avesta Housing, Inc. will be presented to the Bridgton Planning Board next Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. at a pre-application conference. The current thinking calls for 24 one-bedroom apartments on two upper levels, with office space and/or a large community meeting hall on the ground level. Parking for 24 cars would be located behind the building on the Lower Depot Street side, and the entrance to the apartments would be on the Gibbs Avenue side. The front entrance serving ground floor uses would face Main Street.
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Avesta Housing, Inc. officials took some tough questions Tuesday after saying they opposed the town’s efforts to create a Local Preference Ordinance giving first dibs to Bridgton residents for new apartment construction. Repeatedly, Avesta Director of Programs Debora Keller cited one of their chief financing partners, Rural Development, as the culprit — the federal agency requires that their financing be for seniors or people with disabilities, and prohibits residency restrictions on such housing under the Fair Housing Act. But when resident Mark Lopez pointed out that Massachusetts uses a lottery system in allotting units on a residents-only basis, Keller and Project Manager Matt Peters both said they would go back
to rural Development with that information to see if a local preference requirement might still be possible. “We’re more than willing to explore that…but if Rural Development says we can’t do it, and a local preference ordinance passes, we’re done,” Keller said. There was considerable discussion about income requirements and just how many persons with disabilities might be living in the apartments. The qualifying maximum gross income is around $26,000, Peters said, of which 30% goes to pay rent. He acknowledged that some applicants may make much less than $26,000, in response to some audience members who challenged their statement that project residents would help the downtown economy by spending their disposable income at local businesses.
Keller said the project would bring $25,000 a year in property tax revenues to Bridgton, not to mention the benefit of local spending by construction workers during the building phase. At their Oak Street, Portland project, now being completed, a nearby restaurant “was filled every day, and they were sad to see it end,” Keller said. She also said that residents of Avesta housing built elsewhere around the state are active in contributing to the community, not just by spending, but also through volunteering and service work. Resident Chuck Renneker said it was “somewhat misleading” to promote the project as senior housing, since only one of the two persons that can reside in each one-bedroom apartment has to be age 62 or older. If, for example, the second person is a son or daughter, AVESTA, Page A
Town seeks to clarify upcoming shoreland zoning vote By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer As if the upcoming vote on Shoreland Zoning in the downtown weren’t already so long delayed to have become confusing, Bridgton Selectmen on Tuesday had to take the added step of reaffirming their Sept.
11 vote to take the amendments to voters on Nov. 6. The reason? Resident Chuck Renneker challenged Selectman Woody Woodward’s right to be part of the Sept. 11 vote, because Woodward owns one of four parcels listed as exempted in the General Development
I zone. Woodward resisted recusing himself, as was recommended after Selectman Bernie King sought an opinion on the matter from the legal services department of the Maine Municipal Association. After considerable discussion of the process
the board needs to adopt from now on, a motion to require that Woodward recuse himself failed on a 2–2 tie vote, with Bob McHatton and Paul Hoyt voting against it. But the issue clarified for the board that, if any member sees a need for any other member not to vote on an
issue, the member in question must publicly state that they have a potential conflict, and then the board as a whole must take a vote on the recusal. In a related matter, Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz passed out a list of frequently asked questions on the upcom-
ing Shoreland Zoning amendments, in response to reports that there was considerable confusion over “a very misunderstood and complex amendment,” Berkowitz said. In essense, the question before voters is whether to re-affirm VOTE, Page A
Realizing a dream
Finally, the call to ‘play ball’ is heard at new sports complex
FAMILY FIELDS — Dan Macdonald and Lyn Carter, posing together, have each committed $50,000 to have ballfields at the Ham Recreation Complex named for family members. One of the two baseball fields is named in honor of Macdonald’s parents, Roger and Mary Macdonald, and the softball field is named in honor of Carter’s late daughter, Laurie Carter Bergen.
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Saturday’s Fun Day at Bridgton’s new Kendal C. & Anna Ham Recreation Complex began with rain, but ended with sunshine, and throughout it all were smiles. And the broadest, most frequent smiles belonged to board members, both past and present, of the Bridgton Recreation Advancement Group (BRAG), who understood more than most just what it took to create three baseball fields, one softball field and soccer fields from a 21-acre wild woodlot.
“What a joy this is…I’m so tickled,” said Jim Quinn, BRAG board member and project manager. Quinn has volunteered countless hours overseeing creation of the athletic fields, which are now complete and will be ready for regular play next spring. “To go from trees (pointing to tall pines beyond the clearing) to this,” he beamed, his arms swept wide, “I can’t tell you how exciting this is.” The deep sense of BRAG’s accomplishment since its inception 16 years ago was more solemnly observed when father and son Dan and Bill Macdonald stood with hands on hearts and chins uplifted, as a recording of The Star Spangled Banner signaled the start of the first game played on the new Roger and Mary Macdonald baseball field, named in memory of Dan’s parents and Bill’s grandparents. Teams from Gorham and Harrison were the first from the Sebago-Long Lake Cal Ripken Baseball League to play on the field at noon, but others followed as the afternoon wore on. At the adjacent baseball field, Ham Charitable Foundation Director and Trustee Bruce Chalmers threw out the first pitch before play began on the second baseball field. Under rules set up by BRAG’s Board of Directors, the Macdonalds’ $50,000 contribution gave them naming rights on one field; a second field is called the Eddie Rolfe Baseball
IN MEMORY OF LAURIE — Lyn and Larry Carter have raised $40,000 for a field in honor of their late daughter. Field, in honor of Rolfe, who donated the land. The third field where Chalmers presided has yet to be named, and BRAG Board President Bill Macdonald is hopeful the awareness generated by the Sept. 22 Fun Day will lead to another big donor stepping (literally) up to the plate. Although attendance was well below anticipated levels, there was a steady stream of PLAY BALL, Page A
The Bridgton News Established 1870
BUBBLING OVER with happiness was former Lake Region High School Track Coach Jim Quinn, BRAG Project Manager for the Ham Recreation Complex and a board member, shown SLUGGIN’ IT OUT with the Portland Seadogs “Slugger” here with Lenny Fox, Sebago-Long Lake Baseball League were Alie and Conner Adams of Bridgton. umpire and a coach at Lake Region Middle School.
P.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. Bridgton, ME 04009 207-647-2851 Fax: 207-647-5001 bnews@roadrunner.com