KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 17, 2023
West Gardiner has no zoning other than what state law requires; it has no Planning Board; building permits are not required. Greg Couture, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said, “We hate regulations, and we hate permits.” With development pressure pushing into town, residents voted in December for a temporary ban on new commercial solar energy systems, self-storage facilities. During the moratorium, selectmen drafted ordinances that would regulate those activities to present at Town Meeting. After nearly an hour at Thursday’s public hearing, residents supported a ban on all new commercial solar farms and they prohibited expansion of any currently existing or in the works. They took a similar approach to the self-storage facility ordinance, limiting it to the number that already exist and prohibiting those from expanding. Three solar projects are slated for development in West Gardiner already.