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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 146, No. 45
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
November 5, 2015
(USPS 065-020)
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Medical marijuana
Another grower targets Bridgton
HISTORY TEACHER OF THE YEAR — Cyndi Broyer (left), a fourth and fifth grade teacher at New Suncook School in Lovell has been named the Maine 2015 History Teacher of the Year.
‘Her enthusiasm (for history) is contagious’
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer LOVELL — Cyndi Broyer is grateful that she can dedicate her energy, passion and caring attitude to a job she “loves” and feels “blessed” to have. Her skill as an educator, her ability to motivate and her example that has been a role model for a long list of past students all contributed toward Cyndi being named Maine’s 2015 History Teacher of the Year. “I am proud of what was said about my teaching. I love my job! Feeling blessed,” the New Suncook School fourth and fifth grade teacher said. Cyndi’s principal nominated her for the award and in a letter of support had written, “Her enthusiasm for the historical units she teaches is contagious and often students have talked about the activities many years later.” It’s one thing to read about a great teacher and another to see her in action, said Kristie H. Littlefield, State Social Studies Specialist for the Maine Department of Education. “During my visit, Cyndi joked that teaching may be a little like being an air traffic controller. I would agree…there are multiple pieces to pay attention to. Yet, based on what I saw in Cindy’s classroom, it may be more accurate to think about her as an air traffic controller that simultaneously acts as a world peace negotiator, a maestro of an orchestra, and a civil engineer — all in the course of a class period. Littlefield added, “I think it’s important to know that, if given the chance, Cyndi would likely dismiss my praise for her skills as a teacher. In fact, upon meeting her for the first time, she was quick to point out that she was most fortunate to be able to work with fabulous colleagues and a supportive administration and community. While I have no doubt that this is true, Cyndi is clearly a leader at her school and serves as a wonderful mentor to beginning teachers. She constantly seeks to refine her teaching and routinely immerses her students in American history through creative simulations and the use of primary source materials.” At the end of the day, though, Littlefield said it doesn’t really matter what she or what her colleagues think. “It’s really about the students. And we all know most of them are not afraid to tell it like it is. In fact, Cyndi encouraged them, in her words, to ‘tell what is real and true for them.’ When I spoke privately with TEACHER, Page 7A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A medical marijuana growing operation, Bridgton’s second, is being proposed to operate out of a nondescript three-bay warehouse building set well back from Route 302, across from J.P. Gallinari Electric. New Age Builders of Biddeford is proposing to divide the 3,000 square-foot garage-style building at 527 Portland Road into three growing rooms of roughly equal size separated by 12-foot walls and ceilings. Although the front of the building has three large bay doors, only the door on the right would be used to enter and leave. The two doors on the left would be filled in from the inside,
making them unusable while appearing as doors from the outside. The existing rear door would also be filled in, according to the preliminary site plan application. The Bridgton Planning Board on Tuesday had little to say about the plans, as they were deemed to be incomplete. Robert Greenlaw, acting on behalf of New Age Builders owner Jim Messer, had not yet notified all abutters to the project. Board member Fred Packard has property near the site, and said he hadn’t received notification. Packard added that Gallinari Electric owner Joe Gallinari had also not been notified. Other items missing from the application was an entrance review by
the Department of Transportation and proof of financial and technical capacity. The application was tabled until the Dec. 1 meeting. The 3.7-acre parcel is shown on town records as being owned by Allen Follett of Lincoln. Follett filed a building permit application for the project listing New Age Builders as the contractor. The property has frontage on both Route 302, where there is an existing driveway, and Brocklebank Drive, which serves several residential properties. Other than describing the structural changes to the inside of the building, Greenlaw’s application offers few specifics on staffing for the cultivation GROWER, Page 6A
Sewer ordinance falls by 151
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton voters on Tuesday rejected proposed amendments to the sewer ordinance, voting 575 to 424 against making any changes to the current individual flow-based sewer rate structure. The vote surely comes as a blow to the Board of Selectmen, who were poised to submit engineering reports this month as the first step in securing state and federal grant funds for a sewer expansion. The change to an equivalent user system were needed in
order to assure that the debt service and operational and maintenance costs for an expanded system would be covered by both existing and potential future users, as required under the funding guidelines. The board and the Wastewater Committee saw the current flow-based system as being antiquated and unfair, giving a free pass to property owners with buildings generating no flow, either because they are vacant or on a private system. They might not be using the sewer, but their property values benefit by virtue of it
being there, they said. Worse still, according to the board, the current allocationbased system was placing a stranglehold on development because all but 600 gallons per day of available allocation were already tied up by the 73 users who had purchased a set amount of capacity, even though in many cases they weren’t using all of it. In reality, between 2,000 to 3,000 gallons per day of capacity exist, but under the current system it cannot be sold by the town for new development. Selectmen lobbied hard
King reacts
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS? — With the Bridgton Hospital Outpatient Clinic staff taking on the roles of 101 Dalmations as part of their Halloween attire last week, assuming the role of Cruella Deville was Dianne Bridges.
Smoother ride? Upgrades reviewed
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Certainly, Route 11 is the road improvement project that impacted the highest number of vehicles, including several school buses for School Administrative District (SAD) 61. The Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) project to reclaim and repave almost 10 miles of Route 11 began in 2014, and was wrapped up fairly early in the summer this year. The road improvement project spanned the towns of Naples, Casco and Poland. According to Casco Town Manager Dave Morton, the improvements to Route 11 are
a double-edged sword — better road surface means people drive faster. During past public meetings, Casco residents have brainstormed innovative ideas to remind people to drive more cautiously on Route 11. Most of the suggestions involve signs or digital boards that tell drivers what speed they are driving. Casco’s elected public officials have discussed talking to MDOT representatives about options to improve safety through signage on Route 11. The next Casco Board of Selectmen meeting will be on Nov. 10. Hopefully, the board will be able to discuss the results of road engineering
for the changes for months up to the vote, but were seen as coming up short in terms of explaining to individual users now on the system how the new rate structure would work. A group of Main Street business property owners, led by Chuck Hamaty of Main Street Graphics, came forward after the public hearing to urge a “No” vote in order to give residents more time to understand, ask questions and get answers about what they were voting on. In a large ad in The News, SEWER, Page 8A
reports. Morton said he had not yet been sent the reports, but he hoped the paperwork would arrive in time to be forwarded to selectmen for preview. The road engineering reports will provide cost estimates for what needs to be done to improve two of Casco’s most problematic roads: Johnson Hill Road and Edwards Road, he said. “They are recommending how to break it into segments, and the cost of those segments, and the board of selectmen will decide from there,” he said. Another road-related item on the agenda is a request for a speed limit on a public easement. Some of the resi-
dents living on Millstream Terrace would like a posted speed limit. Only the MDOT can grant that request, Morton said. So selectmen will have to decide whether or not to petition the state for a speed limit there. So far, the town has posted signs indicating that children play on the short dirt road and it is a dead-end road, he said. Morton, who also wears the hat of road commissioner, reviewed some improvements done on town roads this season. As part of regular road maintenance, some pavement patchwork was completed this year, he said. Also, Libby Road was in the final phase of a three-year road repair proj-
ect. Earlier this week, crews surface-paved Libby Road, wrapping up that road project, Morton said. One autumn road job to take place next week is putting in a culvert on Heath Road. The town “will need to close Heath Road on Nov. 10, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., for a ROADS, Page 8A
Bridgton Board of Selectmen Chairman Bernie King was very disappointed by Tuesday’s sewer ordinance amendments vote, but it didn’t come as a surprise. “People basically don’t trust government,” he said. After spending a couple of hours Saturday at the transfer station talking to residents, “The one word that kept popping up was expansion,” even though Tuesday’s question dealt only with the ordinance governing the current system and its users. “In retrospect we should’ve started the education sooner,” said King. While enormous effort went into writing the amendments — by himself, Town Manager Bob Peabody, Wastewater Committee members and others — efforts at educating the public, he said, “were a day late and a dollar short.” King was especially upset that the opponents’ ad suggested that a sewer expansion was a done deal and it would “cost over $23 million,” which he said is a “total lie.” Selectmen have never suggested going forward with an expansion without securing funding promises for a significant portion of the total cost. And until engineering studies are done it is not possible to estimate what the project will cost. King wants residents to know that “Right now, the no votes have basically shut the town down. We won’t be able to have any more growth” until the current rate structure is changed. “On paper, it shows that we are basically shut down,” he said.
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