ALFRED (Feb 28, 2008): Alfred selectmen and the town’s planning board disagree on the best way to control development and protect pristine land in rural sections, and it will be up to voters to break the tie at the March 8 town meeting.

The Board of Selectmen has proposed a change to a town ordinance governing clustered subdivisions in Alfred’s rural residential and critical rural districts, the zones outside of the village area. The language put forth by selectmen would force subdivision projects that either involve five or more units in a 10-year period or are created from a tract or parcel of 30 acres or more to be designed as clusters. Currently, only projects that involve five or more units over a 10-year period must be clustered.

Cluster developments place either 50 or 60 percent of the total land in the project in open space, depending on the specific zoning. Open space is shared among the homeowners and cannot be further developed. The board, said Selectman John Sylvester, feels that the current ordinance allows for the development of large lots spread over a rural area. The bigger lots could be subdivided further, he said, spreading development and the need for services into Alfred’s most rural areas.

“Clustering would reduce the impact of that,” Sylvester said, citing a 170-acre area on Brackett Hill Road that was divided into three lots: two large lots and a smaller parcel. There is nothing in the town ordinances to protect the open space in that area, he said.

The planning board, however, feels the current restraints are adequate. Most towns have only a unit restriction in its ordinances, said Al Carlson, planning board chair. Allowing for larger lots opens the way for bigger, more expensive homes, Carlson said, development that will add to the town’s tax base.

Tax revenue from a $300,000 home generates roughly half of what it costs to educate a student for one year in the SAD 57 system, Sylvester said. “Tax revenue form residential development is not something that is a huge moneymaker,” he said, advocating instead that the town look to business development to aid its tax base.

Planning board member Arthur Karcher said the town should not force developers to create communal open space. If a homeowner buys a lot, he said, they should have full rights on the whole lot.

“If I have a 10-acre lot, I want to use 10 acres,” he said. “I oppose the open space policy.”