By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — On Tuesday, Naples voters will have the chance to choose two people to sit on the planning board.

As it does every year, that race takes place during the school budget vote. 

In 2022, three people are running for the two planning board seats: Incumbent Jimmy Allen, alternate Larry Anton and Sue Fleck.

Fleck has spent time on the Naples Ordinance Review Committee (ORC).

The Bridgton News asked a few questions so that candidates could share what is on their minds.

The answers from Allen were not available before press deadline. 

B-News: Regarding solar energy, what are some factors that should be considered in the Solar Ordinance amendments?

Anton: These vital amendments reflect everything we have learned over the past year from listening toneighbors, feedback from the community, analyzing applications, closing loopholes, and discovering items that needed to be added to the ordinance. It adds requirements to maintenance, operating and decommissioning plans. It limits the size of solar farmsby limiting the amount of output that is permitted. It increased the wooded buffer at property lines to 50 feet. It requires that solar farms not be visible from any public road, great pond, or from the Crooked or Songo Rivers and it limits the slope of the site to less than 20%. Finally, it caps the number of solar farms to those degraded sites that were included in the original Solar Overlay District plus an additional five sites.  These amendments protect the character of Naples by preventing well financed companies from coming in and destroying our scenic views, forests, and open areas.

Fleck: Currently, there is a new ordinance ready for the voters to consider in June. It seems we have a plan to find the right balance between preserving our Maine scenery and at the same time contributing to the solar grid and alternative energy. I believe as solar energy evolves the ordinance may need to grow with the changes we face at that time.

B-News: Do you favor impact fees for solar energy? Why or why not?

Anton: If the amendments to the Solar Ordinance are approved by the voters on May 24, there should be little or no impact to Naples that would justify impact fees.

Fleck: Solar energy is just getting started and there are things that will present themselves in the future, staying cognitive of the changes, specifically being mindful of the health of the companies that are doing business in Naples and their ability to handle the cost/procedure if necessary to dispose of a retired field and how to manage the potential costs involved will be important.  I just saw an article that stated retired windmills are being used to construct bridges hopefully there will be a future for retired solar panels.

B-News: What should be done to guide development in the Town of Naples?

Anton: We need to update our Comprehensive Plan which was started in 2002 and took over three years to complete. It has served us well but it has exceeded its design life. We have to find out how our residents and taxpayers in 2022 want to see for the future of Naples. After the plan is completed with its goals and objectives for the future of our town and is approved by the voters with a referendum vote, we will need to adjust our ordinances to implement the plan. A Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee appointed by the select board could be valuable to push for changes needed to implement the plan.

Fleck: A topic that keeps coming up over again is the need to review the comprehensive plan and see if it still matches the current world and its changing needs that will help guide decisions to maintain a balance of sustainable change and encourage year-round businesses to create local jobs.

B-News: What do you think the role of the planning board is?

Anton: The role of the Planning Board is to impartially look at the project before it, understand the project, and decide if it meets the criteria of the applicable ordinances. This is not always easy to do when you are handed an eighty page booklet prepared by lawyers and engineers.The duty of the Board Member is to read everything in the application before the meeting so that the appropriate questions can be asked of the applicant. We must look carefully at any requested waivers and determine if there is a hardship or other justification for the waiver.  The Board must also insist on restrictions and conditions to protect the neighbors and to protect the environment keeping in mind that runoff almost always will end up in one of our lakes or rivers. The role of the Planning Board isto protect the interests of the Town of Naples, its residents, and its taxpayers. The Board members should be a diverse group. A Board with five business owners or a Board with no business owners is not diverse. You need the different points of view to come up with the right decision. After a decision is reached, the Board must insure that everything is documented. Any conditions or restrictions must be on the signed plan that is filed with the registry of deeds.  A verbal promise to appease the neighborswill not stand up when the property is sold.

Fleck: For a balanced group of townspeople to oversee and approve the development of the town that together through public hearings when warranted match the wishes of our community in coordination with the town manager, code officer, select board and ordinance review committee keeping the town on an even keel moving forward in the 21st Century.