Edgecomb, listen up! Now I must slap on my Selectman's hat and address You the Town seriously. If you have been following the local news at all closely, you will know that there is a Public Hearing by the Planning Board tonight, Thursday, August 31, at 6:30 p.m. on the application by Edgecomb Development LLC, Phase 2-B. This will be followed by two Public Hearings concerning the re-write of the Edgecomb Land Use Ordinance Article 5, Section 4.8, in re density in the presence of public water and sewer, Wednesday, Sept. 6 and Wednesday, Sept. 13, both at 7:00 p.m., leading up to a Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, September 20, also at 7:00 p.m. All these many meetings will be held at the Edgecomb Town Hall.
If you are not fully familiar with the issues involved, go to www.Edgecomb.org, click for the Selectmen's page, select minutes dates under 2006, some of which are marked "oc", indicating they include a report from the Ordinance Committee or "sc," a report from the Selectmen's Sewer Committee (not yet available as this new committee has not yet met.). "ph" is the code for Public Hearings.
If you do not have internet, minutes of the Selectmen's and Planning Board meetings are available from the Town Office on Mondays, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Never before has the Planning Board been so preoccupied with subdivisions. The whole town is going through growing pains. "Learning by Doing" involves the risk of mistakes, and as we have recently witnessed, considerable emotional investment as well as economic. Here are some other Town issues you should be informing yourselves about: the acquisition of a professional planner to edit and suggest corrections in our ordinances to the Planning Board; the TIF District (Tax Increment Financing) which started the whole ball rolling, by enabling the bringing of public water and sewer to Davis Island; the River Run Co-Housing Project in East Edgecomb; the Gateway I Project, Maine Dept. Transportation's major comprehensive plan for Route 1, of which Edgecomb's 2 ½ miles will be also seriously affected by, you guessed it, the Wiscasset Bypass! The issue that never goes away!
Late Deans' List news: Hope E. Cruser, Nicholas J. Repenning, both at USM; Edward Speed at SMCC; David Nickerson, Julie Rollins, Matthew Miller, Rita Sieracki, all at UMO.
The Cameron household has recently been enlivened by the presence of Benjamin Clarke Klemme. The greater Edgecomb area is a wonderful place to find things for an 8-year-old boy to do, and we've done lots of them! Ben has picked garden truck with Grampa, cleaned out the ancient playhouse, played with Alex Smith (son of Stuart), romped with Rose-Marie Ballard Boak's little dog Teazle, visited Nate Blackford and Joe Hoyt next door, admired the horses at Katherine Braid's stable, waded around Salt Marsh Cove gathering shells and tiny little crab carapaces (Q: will they make it home to CT intact? Doubtful.); then, from tiny crab to humongous lobster, courtesy the Edgecomb Congregational Church Saturday..... And I am sure you can think of many other things we should have done, and could have done, so please let me know, we'll try to fit them for some future visit!
Ever the Edgecomb Tourist, I am checked in at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.