HARPSWELL
During a meeting scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. today in the town office on Mountain Road, the Harpswell Board of Selectmen will consider placing on the March 10 annual town meeting warrant a non-binding poll about the preferred use for the West Harpswell School.
The proposed poll would allow voters to indicate a preference for how the town should use the 17,000-squarefoot school building, which School Administrative District 75 closed last year due to declining enrollment.
A draft of the warrant article related to the poll would ask voters to rank four choices:
— Seek to sell the building and property.
— Keep the building and property and use it for town activities, including making the building available to local organizations at a fee to help cover costs.
— Seek to develop the building primarily as a business center.
— Develop the building and property primarily as housing for seniors and/or working families.
In December, the Board of Selectmen met with Jim Howard, president and chief executive officer of the Topsham based development firm Priority Group LLC, to explore the possibility of converting the school to a business center along the lines of the Border Trust Business Center.
Other business
In other business, selectmen are scheduled to consider:
— Wharf applications for: Anne and Armand Bouchard, Map 47, Lot 161, of 457 Tondreau Point Road; James Merryman, Map 17, Lot 133, 242 Ash Point Road.
— Approval of a $ 36,000 general community development block grant application for demolition of unsafe and unstable structures at Mitchell Field.
— Whether to apply for one community development block grant for either: $25,000 for a needs assessment for senior and workforce housing; $35,000 for a comprehensive assessment of Mitchell Field pier; or $25,000 to complete an economic development plan.
— Wording of consumer fireworks ordinances that would ban either the sale, the use, or the sale and use of consumer fireworks.
— Acceptance of $2,500 in donations for Harpswell heating assistance.
— Nomination of Abigail Svenson for a 2012 Eco-excellence award from the nonprofit ecomaine.
— Interim appointment of John Marshall as alternate codes enforcement officer in the absence of William Wells.
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