Topsham Planning Commission

Draft Minutes for Zoom Meeting on

Monday, June 15, 2026 @ 6:00 PM

Present: James Clark, Committee Chair, Donna Otterman, Brad McAvoy and Nick Milburn, Judy Welch, Members

Meeting was called to order at 6:03 PM.

Motion was made by Nick Milburn and seconded by Brad MacAvoy to approve the minutes for the meeting on March 2, 2026.  All approved.

Brad McAvoy was assigned as Secretary for the August and October meetings.

The next meeting will be on August 3, 2026

The following goals were discussed:

The proposed Town Energy Plan that Nick Milburn reviewed and condensed.

The energy plan is written to focus on affordability in the context of increases in taxes and fluctuating fuel costs. Among other topics, it addresses regional/state solar and wind objectives. The plan is designed to encourage and discourage action and align municipal policies with state energy goals but does not impose anything mandatory for residents or local businesses.

Capital Budget: Can we fund energy enhancements? Should we do data collections? Can we provide adequate charging stations? Our goal is to have input for decisions where appropriate for Topsham.

We also went over the questionnaire that was sent to residents for feedback.

We discussed requiring a building permit for residential development to assist the listers, also the possibility of a small charge if approved by the Select board.

Donna Otterman will look at other towns’ versions of building permits such as Fairlee’s and will prepare an example for our next meeting in August.

Meeting adjourned 7:37 PM.

Submitted by, 

Judy Welch