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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 144, No. 51
24 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
December 19, 2013
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 4D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
School plan takes shape
HEATER BONANZA — After seeing last week’s story in The Bridgton News about the Bridgton Emergency Fuel Fund running out of money, an anonymous reader stepped up and bought 10 1,500-watt infrared heaters at $100 each at True Value Hardware in Bridgton. Posing with the infrared heaters and other donated ceramic heaters are Carmen Lone, executive director of the Bridgton Community Center, and BCC volunteer Mike Tarantino. (Geraghty Photo)
Story sparks Christmas spirit By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer An outpouring of generosity has followed last week’s Bridgton News article detailing the lack of funds in the Bridgton Community Center ’s Emergency Fuel Fund. Two anonymous donors have stepped forward. The first bought 10 1,500-watt infrared heaters at $100 apiece, and the second has promised to donate $1 for every $2 raised by the fuel collaborative, up to $5,000. The second donor made an immediate donation, and a further pledge of $3,334 for a 10K fuel fund match-
ing challenge. The donor will donate $1 for every $2 raised in the challenge for the goal of raising $10,000 for the fuel collaborative. Carmen Lone, executive director of the BCC, said the money that’s come in over the last week has allowed the fund to clear the backlog of clients waiting to be helped. A “bar crawl” fundraiser recently put on by local restaurants and pubs also yielded a donation check of $1,200. Cash donations in any amount — $50, $20, $10, even $5 or $1 — will be gratefully accepted, said Lone. The quicker they can
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A major soil erosion project is in store for the Woods Pond Watershed, one that will reduce annual soil loading to the lake by around 45 tons by attacking the highest priority erosion sites. Barry DeNofrio of the Wildwood Road Association told the Bridgton Board of Selectmen Dec. 10 that the work will begin next spring to correct the problem sites. The Lakes Environment Association, acting as lead partner in the two-year project, received word recently that it has been awarded a $60,000 grant through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP grant will be matched by $42,810 from local sources, including both cash and “in-kind” donations, for a total project
cost of $102,810. The grant project allows the Lakes Environmental Association to share the costs of implementing erosion control efforts with the town of Bridgton, summer youth camps, private road associations and property owners in the Woods Pond Watershed. “It will give us a good program to fix some of the problems there,” he said. “It certainly is good news.” DeNofrio said the town needn’t worry it will be asked to contribute more beyond the $2,000 voters approved at Town Meeting last June, along with the $4,000 of inkind services that the Bridgton Public Works Department has agreed to provide. “There’s nothing more that the town has to contribute” under this Phase 1 “high priority” portion of the Woods GRANT, Page A
FUN NIGHT AT THE UMBRELLA FACTORY — Musician Alan Bean of Harrison was a member of a group performing holiday favorites at Tony’s Foodland last week. More photos appear on Page 1B. (Rivet Photo)
and employees who work in town. But to Selectman Paul Hoyt, such an approach defeats the whole purpose of what the proposed ordinance is trying to do. “I might be wrong, but when this was brought forward originally, it was (intended) for Bridgton residents,” said Hoyt. “My uncle, who lives in Arizona, I don’t see why he should have a preference for housing that is in Bridgton.” Hoyt’s comment came as
he discussed changes from the original draft that were recommended by Spencer in order to make the ordinance as legally defensible as possible, in keeping with federal Housing and Urban Development rules barring housing discrimination. Just prior to Hoyt’s comments, Chairman Doug Taft — mindful of the time already spent discussing the issue — had suggested sending along the proposal for a final draft, in preparation for a Town
raise $6,668 in matching funds, the more people can be helped. As for the heaters, Tarantino said after the article hit the stands, “A man
called me and said ‘Could you use 10 heaters?’” The next thing he knew, the man had bought them at a sale at Hayes True Value Hardware SPIRIT, Page A
Grant to tackle pond’s erosion
one abstention. • To meet the state’s insistence to eliminate the use of portable classrooms across SAD 72, directors voted 9– 3 on measures that would move Grade 5 at Brownfield/ Denmark Elementary and New Suncook School to the Molly Ockett campus. Directors have heard a mixed reaction from parents regarding moving all fifth graders to Fryeburg. • By a unanimous vote, directors support consolidating special education programming as part of the project. Space will be included for elementary “essential skills” and “Bridge” programming. Presently, the “Essential Skills” classroom is located at New Suncook, while the “Elementary Bridge” program is at Molly Ockett. • Whether or not SAD 72 decides to add a Pre-K program, two classrooms will be figured into the new construction plan. If the rooms are included, a director wonSCHOOL, Page A
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer Repurposing of school buildings a few years ago was a way SAD 61 hoped to save local taxpayers money. However, shuffling students has created overcrowding at Songo Locks School, pushing the school board to possibly look at reopening Crooked River as regular ed instruction space. Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Beecher, along with Andy Madura (director of Facilities, Transportation and Maintenance) and Lisa Caron (director of Special Services) have started an analysis regarding what space presently exists and what scenarios could be pursued. Casco residents have voiced a preference that their students be educated in their hometown. Even with a modular unit at Songo Locks, the facility is overcrowded, either reaching or near the full capacity of 500.
So, SAD 61 could reopen Crooked River and move either Casco students in grades four and five, or consider a K-5 shift. However, the building would still be used for Special Services, the current tenant of the Route 11 building. Some interior construction work would be required, as well as either purchasing or moving back items (such as a kiln, which is currently housed at Sebago Elementary) that were taken from CRES and placed elsewhere in the district. When CRES was in full operation, the facility also had seven portable units on site. Those units are gone. Madura told the school board Monday night at Lake Region Vocational Center’s Great Room that because of “little use,” the Sebago Elementary modular has a likely lifespan of 10 to 15 more years. That unit houses CRES, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Central Maine Power will be building a new eightmile power line between its substations in Harrison and Bridgton, requiring a widening along most of the existing transmission line corridor. The project will allow power to be transferred from one grid to the other when outages occur during big storms. “The whole idea is to keep the lights on in the Lake Region,” said CMP Spokesperson Gail Rice. Letters to affected landowners, which include the Town of Bridgton, went out Dec. 2 to let them know that
an agent from the utility will soon be in contact to begin negotiating acquisition of the necessary easements. The line runs from the Kimball Road Substation in Harrison, just off Temple Hill Road, to the Bridgton Substation on Powerhouse Road off Kansas Road. The line will be widened by 50 feet the first three and a half miles out from the Kimball Road Substation, requiring the acquisition of 19,200 square feet of land. Additional clearing will need to be done all along the eight-miles of corridor, however, and CMP will need to widen the corridor a bit as CMP, Page A
Could CRES return to action?
CMP plans major upgrade
Local preference, defensible or not? By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A year and a half and $5,500 in legal advice later, Bridgton Selectmen found out Tuesday that they need to rethink just how narrowly they want to define local preference when it comes to new affordable housing projects. Town Attorney Richard Spencer has advised the cautious approach, to include not only Bridgton residents but also their relatives
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer FRYEBURG — How SAD 72 plans to address constructing a new C.A. Snow School and address other space needs in the district is becoming clearer. Directors at their Dec. 11 meeting voted on several key project points: • They voted unanimously to take the idea of consolidation of elementary schools as part of the project off the table. No discussion of the motion was needed. Residents across the district soundly rejected the idea of creating a central elementary school campus on the Molly Ockett Middle School site, which would have resulted in the closure of elementary buildings in Denmark and Lovell. • Citing lack of space and poor working conditions, directors approved including the SAD 72 Central Office (all staff members) as part of the building project. The vote tally was 10 for, one against,
Meeting vote next June. The ordinance was drafted over a year ago by Community Development Committee member Mark Lopez and Anne Krieg, Bridgton’s Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development, and is based in part on a statute in Massachusetts. During their failed bid in 2012 to site an affordable housing project in Bridgton, Avesta Housing Corporation LOCAL, Page A
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