Al Althenn of China, ME China has a crazy Comprehensive Plan that makes “cluster building or zoning” unlawful. There are high costs involved for plowing, road maintenance and other costs associated with infrastructure spread out over a large area.

A plan that forces out cluster zoning causes “sprawl” and that isn’t good for the environment or taxpayers checkbooks, such as the high cost of plowing many longer than necessary roads for instance.

So why is it mandated in China that “cluster building” is not allowed?

The answer may be as simple as the voters aren’t carefully reading the ordinances that they vote for and that politics that are involved. There are some landowners in China that have too much influence with the rule making bodies in Town. These landowners think, wrongly, that they will make more money dividing up their land into small lots and selling it all for home lots.

There are better ways of getting a good return on the sale of land without spreading the Town into every woodlot and field. Creating many more roads and adds to the costs of plowing and running school buses (much more expensive than plowing), all while helping to destroy the nature of living a small rural town.

Cluster building creates a sense of community while protecting open space and keeping Town costs lower.

E-mail me at alalthenn@roadrunner.com and I’ll e-mail any China resident who asks for it a copy of a proposed ordinance that gives the Town the flexibility to save wetlands, protect open space, grow a greater sense of community while saving all the China taxpayers money. This can be done while allowing for every landowner who wishes, to share in the land boom.report abuse