HEBRON — Voters unanimously passed a comprehensive plan at Saturday’s annual town meeting, approved an $815,000 municipal budget and authorized selectmen to bond money for a new town garage.

Calling it “a road map to use for the future,” Comprehensive Planning Committee member Mike Crowley  assured voters the acceptance would not bind the town to zoning in the future.

The document identifies and details everything from the town’s roads to water sources and historical sites.

Josh Hounsell, vice chairman of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, said, “It’s only a vision or direction for us.'”

The 117-page document defines what Hebron residents want for their community in the next 10 years and provides strategies to guide the town’s resources in that direction.

“This is not zoning, nor does zoning ever have to happen,” Hounsell said.

In 1992, voters  balked at the last attempt to approve a comprehensive plan  because state law at that time forced towns into zoning no more than two years later. Except for state-mandated shoreline zoning, there is no zoning in Hebron.

Voters approved, by a vote of 31-22, authorizing selectmen to spend from the General Fund up to $200,000 and to authorize selectmen to bond not more than $175,000 for the cost of a new town garage. The vote came after a lengthy and sometimes heated debate over the financial impact of a new building and dissent over how much the public had a voice in the decision.

“We need some time as a town,” resident Randy Swift said. He said selectmen should have had a public hearing on the matter and gotten more input from experts.

Selectmen countered that voters approved money at last year’s town meeting for an engineer to develop plans and the plans were available at Town Hall for the past two months for any resident to view. 

The vote was contingent upon an amendment by Lewis Williams that voters revisit the issue of tearing down the existing adjacent garage at next year’s annual town meeting.

Voters also approved the recommended $815,000 municipal budget which is about 8 percent more than last fiscal year. It does not include the Oxford County assessment or the School Administrative District 17 assessment.

Selectmen said they could not forecast what the impact will be on Hebron taxpayers until the school budget is approved in June.

Voters also approved a request for $20,000 to fund the cost of several town employee’s health insurance costs at 100 percent. This is the first time employees have been given health benefits and selectmen said it was necessary to be competitive in the job market. The new benefit is considered to be on par with what other towns are paying for their employee health benefits.

Incumbent Selectman Jim Reid and SAD 17 Director Lewis Williams were re-elected.

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