ROCKPORT — When the Rockport Select Board convenes Nov. 12, members will consider three sewer fee abatement applications, a request to install a pump station on Route 1 by a commercial building owner, and an appeal for help from two developers who want to build affordable housing in a former physician office building on Route 1, but say they are impeded by high sewer costs.

The latter request is on the Select Board's Nov. 12 agenda as the Madelyn Lane Workforce Housing Project Discussion with Caleb Lincoln and Ed Libby.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Geoffrey Parker Meeting Room at the Rockport Opera House. It will be streamed live.

According to Town Manager Jon Duke, the Maine State Housing Authority has approved the 7 Madelyn Lane project. The MSHA is an independent state agency that provides financing for affordable housing developments. The Madelyn Lane project is listed at the MSHA site. There is no development cost listed for the project.

Duke reported conversations between himself, Lincoln and Libby and Rockport Planner Orion Thomas. The developerss have concerns relating to sewer and water costs, he said.

"Effectively, Maine Housing provides strict guidelines within which developers are to operate, which should reflect baseline operational costs for such a structure," wrote Duke, in his memo, which is included in a premeeting packet. "Unfortunately, the sewer costs alone for this project are more than three times the amount allowed by Maine Housing. 

"While no final decisions are required this evening, the developers wish to speak to the Board concerning the circumstance and to see if alternative arrangements might be reached to allow their project to proceed and construction to begin."

Sewer fee abatement requests

1) One Rockport Village property owner is asking that the town stop charging for two sewer lines to a two-bedroom home. The home had two water meters installed several years ago when the home was used as a short-term rental, but the meter has since been removed, and the short-term rental is to be terminated soon, the homeowner said. 

Rockport Planner Thomas counters that the property has two dwelling units. Although the water meter for the short-term rental had been removed, the homeowner still receives two bills with two different account numbers. One is for the water and sewer use/debt service for one of the dwelling units and the other is for debt service only for the additional unit.

The issue is not one sewer line, the town said. The homeowner is being assessed with a second equivalent user charge because the property has two separate dwellings, one being the home; the other, a short-term rental.

"Per our ordinance, each dwelling is assessed one equivalent user," Thomas wrote in his memo to the Select Board/Wastewater Commissioners.

An inspection of the home to determine the number of dwelling units is complicated by the homeowner not wanting people on the property.

The amount disputed is $2,500, to date.

2) The Samoset Resort is asking Rockport to assess sewer fees on its 72 timeshare condominiums using the same formula used for assessing sewer fees on the resort's hotel.

The units are used in the same way as hotel rooms, as nightly rentals, the Samoset said. The resort is asking the town to revise its calculations which assess the number of equivalent users at the Samoset to be 152. The Samoset, instead, suggests the number of  equivalent users is 102.

Equivalent Use, according to the town's sewer ordinance, is the numerical calculation used to describe a property as a function of the flow that the property generates and discharges to the sewer system. The calculation takes into account the size and use of the building(s), including factors such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and in the case of commercial properties, the intensity of use.

The base standard is a single-family dwelling of three bedrooms, which is considered an equivalent use of one (1) and this is the minimum value for the calculation. The calculation is determined by using the Maine State Plumbing Code and will not change unless modifications to the property are made.

The Samoset is also asking the town to adjust its sewer billing as such for August 2025.

"The timeshares would not have the funds in this fiscal budget to incur an expense of this size," the Samoset wrote.

Thomas wrote in his memo that the town had no record as to why the Samoset was charged a minimal amount for sewer debt service, "when the sewer ordinance for how the debt service is paid has remained unchanged for many years."

How Rockport determines number of equivalent users for the Samoset

3) The third abatement concerns property owned by Paula Goodridge Armentrout, at Pokey Notch, in Rockport Village. 

There is no sewer service associated with the property; however, the town began charging the property owner a debt service fee of $72.50 in April. That charge is ongoing, and is now under dispute.

According to the town, the Armentrouts originally owned land in the Pokey Notch subdivision and then later purchased two more parcels of undeveloped land next to their primary lot. Those two parcels were originally part of the Roc Crest subdivision, which extends parallel to Pokey Notch.

The entrance to Pokey Notch is off of Grove Street and the entrance to Roc Crest is off of Union Street. The publicly-owned sewer line runs along Union Street but does not run along Grove Street.

Former owners of Roc Crest ran a private sewer line into the subdivision from the Union Street public sewer line.

The Armentrouts subsequently merged their three lots into one 4.6 acre lot and access it via Pokey Notch road.

"Herein lies the problem," wrote Thomas, in his premeeting memo. "For Roc Crest Drive is a private [sewer] line, however it ties directly into the Rockport sewer system on Union Street. On this private line there is one developed lot, which has historically paid a debt service, while the remaining lots were not paying a debt service. There is not an agreement on file about why this would be, nor a reason in our sewer ordinance to not charge these lots for a debt service while having access to the sewer. In the system-wide audit, this issue was found and each lot within the Roc Crest Subdivision was sent an adjustment letter and a corresponding bill."

The Roc Crest Subdivision and Pokey Notch lots

 Rockport justifies the charge to the Armentrouts, citing the ordinance that says: "The source of revenues for retiring debt costs of the wastewater collection, transport and treatment facilities shall be recovered by assessing the annual debt service to the users and to owners of property, where the gravity sewer main, in the road right-of-way, is located in whole or in part along the road frontage of the property."

The town said the misleading component to the lot in question are the two lots that the Armentrouts purchased in the Roc Crest subdivision. There was not an official subdivision amendment that would have led to changes of the lots frontage on Roc Crest Drive.

Armentrout, however, argues that the sewer charges are erroneous.

Armentrout also said the Roc Crest subdivision was created in 1995, and a private sewer line was run along a private road. It serves one house in the subdivision.

He said the ordinance requires user fees be assessed on properties built adjacent to the public sewer line. Lots 10, 11 and 12 of the Roc Crest subdivision abut Union Street, but Lots 6 and 7, which were bought by the Armentrouts, do not abut a public sewer line, nor a public way.

He cited Section 603 of the ordinance, which states that, "sewer extensions shall become property of the town after obtaining final inspection and approval from the commissioners unless the sewer is located on private property and the intent is to remain under private ownership."

New pump station proposal

Meanwhile, at 461 Commercial Street (Route 1), Brian Hebert hopes to convert an existing 1,200-square-foot garage to a commercial rental and add a bathroom, hot water heater and sinks. He is asking permission from the town to install a new sewer line to an existing larger sewer line, which itself ties into the public sewer line.

In other town business, the Select Board will hold a public hearing Nov. 12 on an application for a new farmer's market authorization to be named the Rockport Farmers Market at 310 Commercial Street.

The owners of Guini Ridge Farm and Sea Hag Cider are collaborating on this venture. If approved, the farmers market will be officially instated for Saturdays.

Also, the town is asking for an amendment to the personnel policy for firefighters, EMTs and paramedics.

With the incorporation of town employees who will be working 24-hour shifts, the town must adjust its policy, which is geared toward employees working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

And, the board will act on a fiber network expansion in the Village from the east side of the Goose River Bridge to Pascal Avenue.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657