Archive for ‘News’

  • Three towns push for Route 11 repairs

    By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — There is a saying, “Three’s a charm.” Will it prove true if three towns push for the same road to be repaired? What if two of those three towns put that same road as the Number One through Number Three most in need of major improvements? When […]

  • Burn-permit bans prelude ‘green-up’

    By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — An 80-plus-degree Patriots’ Day may have pleased many. However, the low-precipitation trend presents a concern to area fire departments. While the dry conditions proved to be pleasant for the holiday’s barbecues, yard work and boating excursions, they were not the best circumstances for controlling outdoor fires. In […]

  • Museum sewer request ok’d, Avesta request denied

    By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Selectmen on Tuesday agreed to let the Rufus Porter Museum hook up to the town’s sewer system as part of its plan to relocate its museum from North High Street to a more central downtown location at 121 Main Street. The board denied, however, a request from Avesta Housing, Inc. […]

  • Searles wins permission to convert office into apartment

    By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer HARRISON — After nine months and appealing to two town boards, Gary Searles has finally prevailed in his request to convert a ground-floor commercial office into an apartment in downtown Harrison Village. Under a direct order from the Harrison Appeals Board, the Planning Board voted April 5 to grant the […]

  • Planners wrangle over definition of ‘structure’

    By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer HARRISON — Chris Searles, manager of the Olde Mill Tavern, is “just looking for a little open space,” that’s all. Just a place for a few picnic tables, bordered by a split rail fence, with some plants and a ground cover of crushed stone. His father, Gary Searles, owns the […]

  • Second time around might prove the charm for PACE Ordinance

    By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A program that offers low-interest energy efficiency loans to homeowners, even to those with bad credit, got swept up in the prevailing “no” sentiment in Bridgton last year that rejected a ban on big box stores and fast food restaurants. It was rejected, but this June the Property Assessed Clean […]

  • Official: ‘Rabies is serious disease’

    By Lisa Williams Ackley Staff Writer As the weather improves and people in the Lake Region begin to go outside more, they need to be aware of the dangers of rabies and the wild animals that carry it, state and local authorities say. Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that affects the brain […]

  • Dipping into Ukrainian art of egg decorating

    By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer LOVELL – Chickens kept entering the conversation. And, which came first – the chicken that laid the egg? Or, was the topic initially hatched when the eggs were held in the hands of a dozen women attending an egg-decorating workshop? Actually, hens do lay eggs that are better at […]

  • Subway needs variance

    By Lisa Williams Ackley Staff Writer FRYEBURG — The Fryeburg Zoning Board of Appeals will take up a variance request from the developers of a proposed Subway restaurant to be constructed at the former NAPA Auto Supply Store’s vacant lot on Main Street tomorrow night, April 13 at 6 p.m. Loren Goodridge, doing business as […]

  • Proposed RV campground draws concerns

    By Lisa Williams Ackley Staff Writer A proposed 115-site RV campground at a former children’s summer camp on Long Lake in Bridgton brought out numerous concerns about increased traffic, pedestrian safety, noise and potential adverse effects on the surrounding area and properties, at the Bridgton Planning Board meeting Tuesday night. Peter Lowell, executive director of […]