Trenton Select Board Talks Comprehensive Plan, Marijuana, and Liquor
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
TRENTON—A call to update the town’s comprehensive plan dominated the Trenton Select Board meeting on Tuesday night, February 4. The town’s current comprehensive plan was finalized in 2006 and some recent events—including a possible change to the town’s land use ordinance concerning allowable uses for solar energy production and a withdrawn citizen’s petition for retail marijuana sales—have many residents thinking that they want more say in the future of their town.
Trenton resident Judy Sproule spoke to the select board in favor of updating the plan and asked them to add a budgetary line item to the warrant for the upcoming town meeting as a place holder for the beginnings of raising the money necessary to facilitate the updating process.
Sproule said that among the people she encounters in town there seems to be a general consensus that there is a need to update the comp plan and that a lot of issues have changed since the last plan was put into effect.
Affordable housing issues have changed; economic factors have changed; environmental stewardship has changed; and technology has changed since 2006, Sproule said.
“Trenton's current comprehensive plan, finalized in 2006, is outdated and no longer legally compliant. An updated plan is crucial for legal compliance, grant eligibility, and addressing current community needs,” Sproule said. “The plan should focus on economic development, environmental stewardship, infrastructure, and community engagement, with a goal of increasing revenue and improving quality of life.”
Sproule did some research before submitting the request to the select board and estimated that the updating of the plan would take about 18 months and could cost as little as $30,000 which is substantially lower than the more than $200,000 that the Town of Bar Harbor has spent on its comprehensive planning. Mount Desert has also begun updating its plan.
A member of the audience said that updating the comprehensive plan is an investment in the town.
Sproule also said that having an updated comprehensive plan may give the town the ability to produce some revenue rather than having to trim items from the budget every year as a way to make the budget work.
She gave an example of a possible revenue loss that would be unavoidable unless land use ordinance rules were changed.
The Sunrise Motel is for sale and being billed as a wonderful opportunity for employee housing. Imagine if a group like Friends of Acadia (a nonprofit) purchased this property and it disappeared from the town’s tax base, Sproule said.
Friends of Acadia has traditionally kept all of its own housing on property tax roles. Only property that has been turned over to Acadia National Park is not taxed.
According to a recent report from the Hancock County Planning Commission (HCPC), as of 2023, Trenton residents spend 3.4% of the median income on real estate taxes and 85% of households are unable to afford a median price range house.
Sproule mentioned vacation rental properties and that there is a lot of money being made off of that market that the town doesn’t see but a local options tax could be a revenue source for the town from the vacation rental market. According to the HCPC report, 70-80% of Trenton homes are owner occupied.
Select Board member John Bennett asked Sproule about ideas to stimulate growth in Trenton.
Sproule said that she has no answers for that question right now but said there is plenty of help available. She said that the first thing that she would want a committee to do is to do an assessment of what is within the town as far as assets such as the business park and affordable housing.
Select Board Chair Fred Ehrlenbach asked why it would take 18 months to update the comp plan when it only took nine months to create the previous version.
Another audience member said that they believe that it is worth the time to not rush and to do it slow, especially if they were not going to do it in another 20 years. This same audience member also suggested that the town start joining in area conversations regarding climate resiliency.
Resident engagement is important so that the comp plan is representative of all Trenton residents said yet another audience member.
Select board member Dan Monahan said, “I support this wholeheartedly and the solar ordinance and marijuana petition have shown us that it is important to plan to try and stay ahead of issues.”
Monahan made a motion to put a warrant article on the regular town meeting warrant to allocate $10,000 to begin the comp plan process. After some discussion regarding whether or not the select board should be deciding the amount rather than the budget committee, Monahan withdrew his motion.
In the end, another motion with a second occurred, the select board unanimously approved adding a line item in the budget for the upcoming town meeting warrant for comprehensive planning development in the amount of $10,000.
MARIJUANA PETITION
Monahan said that he wanted to raise the issue of a petition to put a retail marijuana ordinance on the ballot for town meeting. It was expressed that there were a lot of problems with the petition document including the petition being directed to the select board rather than the planning board and the presenters wanted to take it back, run it by their lawyers, and resubmit it.
The petition had enough signatures to go on the ballot, Monahan said, and then suggested that the select board probably needs a process such as sending it right to the town’s attorney once the board has received a petition with enough signatures to try and avoid this type of situation.
A motion to accept the withdrawal of the petition and not put it on the ballot for the town meeting was made by Monahan, seconded, and unanimously approved.
LIQUOR LICENSE
After no public comment, a new liquor license for the Farmstand Coffee House was unanimously approved by the select board. Town Administrator and Municipal Clerk Carol Walsh offered to take the new license to the coffee house in the morning if the select board signed it after approval.
FIRE CHIEF’S UPDATE
Fire Chief Steve Heckman said that the fire department has been busy with several structure fires in the area, including the one in Ellsworth, but luckily none in Trenton itself.
Heckman also encouraged folks to practice fire safety saying, “Most fires can be prevented.”
The next meeting of the select board is scheduled for February 18, 2025, at 7 p.m.
CLARIFICATION AND UPDATE: This article was updated to clarify FOA’s role with taxed property.
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