Public hearing set for Sept. 3 on new ATV route

Staff Report

    GREENVILLE — Ken Snowdon, the president of the Moosehead Riders ATV Club, addressed the Aug. 6 meeting of the Greenville Board of Selectmen, and asked them to revisit two previously-requested access routes in the community.

    One would allow passage through the downtown intersection — Lily Bay Road and Pritham Avenue — and the other would allow ATV’s to head south on Route 15 to Indian Hill Trading Post.
    According to minutes of the meeting, there was a considerable discussion about the request before the board agreed to set a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m., a half-hour before the start of their regular meeting — to consider the request.
    Specifically, the board will accept comments from the public about Snowdon’s request along with the recently-approved route along Lily Bay Road, Scammon Road, Varney Road, Drew Road and East Road. Selectmen approved the new route on a trial basis through Nov. 14, 2014.
    The board also requested that the town office staff send a notice of this public hearing to all of the abutting landowners along both the proposed and existing routes named.
    The motion passed by a vote of 4-0 with Vice-Chair Craig Watt abstaining. Watt declined to participate in the discussion or vote on the motion due to a potential conflict of interest. He’s the operations manager and co-owner of Indian Hill Trading Post.
    The town hosted a meeting with Greg Lounder and the Municipal Review Committee earlier in the day about the future of solid waste disposal.
    The status of the Penobscot Energy Recovery Corporation (PERC) plant in Orrington was also a topic of discussion as their energy contract comes to an end in a few years, which may negatively impact the cost of waste disposal for entities shipping to PERC.
    Town Manager John Simko summarized the presentation given by Lounder; and the board authorized Simko to send a letter of support to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for the proposed solid waste sorting and processing facility planned by the Municipal Review Committee and to investigate other options for future solid waste disposal.
    In other news from the Aug. 6 meeting, the town had received a request from the property owners of Ledge Drive in Greenville for takeover of their subdivision road.
    The Board of Selectmen agreed by consensus to the following process for consideration.
    First, the owners of the road must provide a notarized letter indicating that all owners of the road are agreeable to having the town take over their road.
    Second, the request must include a recordable deed describing the parameters of the road.
    Third, if the road has been vetted by the Planning Board through the subdivision review process, then review of the road’s current status and determination of consistency with the road standards included in the subdivision ordinance falls with the Road Commission and public works foreman. If the road has not gone through the subdivision review process, then the petitioners must provide a report by a licensed civil engineer analyzing the condition of the road as compared to the ordinance.
    Fourth, any deficiencies found in the road by either methodology must be remedied prior to the Board of Selectmen presenting this request for dedication as a town way at town meeting.
    This will be the process used for the pending request to take over Ledge Drive. The Road Commissioner and the town clerk will devise an information packet for parties interested in having their private roads taken over as town ways.
    A lease agreement between the town and Shaw Public Library Association to facilitate the construction of a connector building between the library and the new annex as tabled until the next board meeting Aug. 20.