Jefferson residents reviewed and asked questions about the ballot for this year’s Annual Town meeting at a public hearing on March 15. Along with minor clarifications about several articles, the hearing gave selectmen a chance to answer questions about proposed changes to the shoreland zoning ordinance.
The Annual Town Meeting will be held by secret ballot on Tues., March 27. The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jefferson Fire Station.
The proposed shoreland zoning ordinance would require property owners to get permission from the town prior to cutting dead and hazard trees within 100 feet of the water.
Under current shoreland zoning rules, the area within 100 feet the waterline is designated the shoreland zone. The shoreland zone is further divided into one of several categories, including limited residential and resource protection.
Currently in Jefferson, residents whose properties are labeled limited residential may remove any dead and hazard trees on their property. Properties in all other categories of the shoreland zone must contact the code enforcement officer before removing these trees.
Under the proposed amendment, residents in limited residential would still be allowed to remove these trees, but they would need to contact the code enforcement officer first. Under the proposed ordinance, all residents within 100 feet of the water would need to contact the code enforcement officer before removing dead and hazard trees from the part of their property in the shoreland zone.
The Jefferson Board of Selectmen told residents that no other aspect of the ordinance would change.
The reason for the change is to facilitate enforcement of the ordinance town’s land use ordinance, selectmen said. In most cases, it is currently against the ordinance to remove live trees from within the shoreland zone, including in limited residential properties.
“The problem is, people show us a stump with sap coming out of it and say, ‘It was dead,’ or ‘it was a hazard,’ and there’s not much we can do about it,” said Selectman James Hilton at the public hearing.
There was limited discussion about the other articles on the warrant, and the group passed through the budget articles with almost no discussion.
The proposed budget is $692,181, a $1440 (.2 percent) decrease from last year. A slight increase to the town’s administration budget – to cover the increased cost of state and federal elections this year – is offset by a decrease to the transfer station budget and the budget for general assistance.