Waltham's Growing Pains

Voters Question Laid-back Land Use Regulations

WALTHAM,ME - This town's determination to keep things the way they are collided with a bulldozer Saturday.

Even as workmen cleared trees for the latest subdivision off Route 179, voters at the annual Town Meeting conceded that time and tide are taking a toll on Waltham's go-your-own-way, minimal zoning, easy-on-the-enforcement land use philosophy.

"We've never told people what they can and can't do," Second Selectman Chris Kravitt told the 25 voters at Saturday's annual session.

He added a Zen-like caution: "We have to change if we want things to stay the same."

Staying the same is a popular outlook in Waltham, population 306. This year's annual Town Meeting - like last year's and for years before that - was remarkable for the number of times voters made the following motion: "I move we do the same as last year."

Thus did the compensation for the moderator ($25) and town clerk ($300) remain unchanged. Voters re-elected Joe Jordan as town clerk, retained the same Board of Selectmen (Kravitt, First Selectman Steve Jordan and Third Selectman Patty Dillon) and kept their stipends the same as last year ($6,000 for Jordan and $3,000 each for Kravitt and Dillon).

Voters kept the Board of Assessors the same as last year, re-elected the general assistance administrator, re-elected the treasurer and kept the animal control officer's compensation at last year's level.

And so things rolled along until it came time to elect and compensate a code enforcement officer. That's when the wheels came off.

Both warrant articles were tabled in the wake of complaints that the code enforcement officer wasn't enforcing.

Brian Linscott, who made the motion to table, said CEO Jonathan Pierce hadn't cracked down on violators.

Pierce did not attend the annual Town Meeting.

"The work isn't getting done," he said.

Selectman Kravitt conceded: "We have asked for more out of him than we are getting. There are certain things that are lacking."

In Linscott's case, a trailer was placed on his property without his permission. He said he reported the infraction to Pierce but the trailer is still there.

Pierce acknowledged that the trailer is not in compliance. He said he's trying to work with the individual.

Could he come down harder?

"I really hesitate to," he said. "Most of the time, it's just an innocent misunderstanding."

Pierce said that in Waltham, "Things have been 'live and let live' and 'we can deal with it.'"

Kravitt and several residents at the Town Meeting acknowledged that local land use regulations are the bare minimum - a building permit; an acre; a functioning septic system and setback from wetlands, abutters and the road and you're good to go.

"It's enough," Pierce said. "The town doesn't want anything more."

But several residents noted the new subdivisions going in off Route 179.

"Waltham is poised for growth," said Steve Harriman. "Poised for a real estate boom."

Harriman had encountered a work crew as he was leaving his house to come to the meeting. He said they told him a six- or seven-lot subdivision was going in on the property next to his.

"It was news to me," Harriman said.

"It's news to the selectmen," Kravitt said.

It was news to Pierce, who said on Monday that he hadn't been presented with plans for the subdivision.

But the other subdivisions under construction have met the town's minimal zoning and others are in the works.

The selectmen said the time has come to review the town's land use ordinance to determine if it is adequate in the face of development pressure. The position of CEO will remain unfilled until a special town election is convened.

Harriman advised the selectmen that the CEO's task must be taken seriously:
"Having a CEO means having ordinances, enforcing, committing time, expense - or forget it."