Board of Selectmen Meeting, March 23, 2023
End of Recycling Center's clear bag policy. Dugouts to be added to Marston Field
Recycling Center Clear Bag Policy
The Public Works Department requested the board to rescind the policy of requiring clear bags for household waste. The Recycling Center employees have difficulty enforcing the rule, and the clear bags available to consumers are of low quality and are not widely available.
The board agreed that these are problems, and discussed the difficulties and the trade-offs. If non-household waste gets put into our trash flow the town will incur extra expenses.
The board decided to relax the policy such that clear bags remain preferred and are encouraged, but are not mandatory.
Dugouts for Marston Field
The Recreation Department requested to spend about $20k from the Recreation Impact Fee Fund to create dugouts at Marton Field. (Impact fees come from taxes on new constructions and are restricted to use on new facilities).
Selectman Ben Bartlett said he was under the impression that any further work on Marston would come from private donations. Selectman Dona Danis said she didn’t know how he got that impression. Bartlett replied that he got that impression from the claims of the supporters of the warrant article that funded the creation of the field.
The expense was approved with Bartlett dissenting. Voting for: Danis, Dumas, and Morin.
Watch the video:
Once again the BOS cheats the homeowners out of their impact fees that are on deposit with the Town. Impact fees are by law only supposed to be used for infrastructure needs that are caused by the the development of new buildings.. There has to be a nexus to each such project between development and that project. For the "need" of dugouts to be blamed on new construction (impact fees) is an open violation of the law.
Zoning
Section 674:21
V. As used in this section "impact fee" means a fee or assessment imposed upon
development, including subdivision, building construction, or other land use
change, in order to help meet the needs occasioned by that development for
the construction or improvement of capital facilities owned or operated by the
municipality, including and limited to water treatment and distribution facilities;
wastewater treatment and disposal facilities; sanitary sewers; storm water,
drainage and flood control facilities; municipal road systems and rights-of-way;
municipal office facilities; public school facilities; the municipality's proportional
share of capital facilities of a cooperative or regional school district of which the
municipality is a member; public safety facilities; solid waste collection, transfer,
recycling, processing, and disposal facilities; public library facilities; and public
recreational facilities not including public open space. No later than July 1, 1993,
all impact fee ordinances shall be subject to the following:
(a) The amount of any such fee shall be a proportional share of municipal
capital improvement costs which is reasonably related to the capital needs
created by the development, and to the benefits accruing to the
development from the capital improvements financed by the fee. Upgrading
of existing facilities and infrastructures, the need for which is not created by
new development, shall not be paid for by impact fees.