CHINA -- Carl Farris' request to enlarge the main building at his Lakeview Lumber Company drew the most comments at the Planning Board's Tuesday evening public hearings.

Farris plans a 72 feet by 100 feet addition on the north side of the building on Lakeview Drive, to make more room for sales and storage.

Errol Stewart lives on Pleasantview Ridge Road, north of the business. He said his complaints about the noisy public address system and the trash that blows off the company's property are shared by neighbors to the south, on Parmenter Terrace.

Rachel Bourque, who lives west of the business across Lakeview Drive, said she has no problems at all. She seldom hears noise, and welcomes lights on the property to deter intruders.

Scott Gurney, another-across-the-road neighbor and a frequent customer, said he got upset only when trucks arriving overnight idled in front of his house.

Farris predicted the planned addition will block some of the sound from the public address system. He and employee Gene Cowing said they need the system; an attempt to use walkie-talkies instead failed because the equipment was too fragile.

They try to minimize early-morning use, they said. And they agreed the obscenities Stewart said he sometimes hears are not acceptable.

Planning Board Chairman Scott Rollins asked Farris' daughter Bry-Ann to see if the company that supplies the business' dumpsters can offer covered ones. Rollins recommended more frequent policing of the grounds. The 90-minute discussion of Farris' plans also covered stormwater run-off prevention plans and traffic impacts.

Carl and Bry-Ann Farris said they do not expect a noticeable increase in traffic. The addition is to make more room for the existing business, not to expand it, they said.

Following their recently-adopted policy of reviewing written findings of fact before making decisions, board members took no action on Farris' application. They reviewed the criteria for approving the application, finding no apparent problems. Rollins and Code Enforcement Officer Scott Pierz will try to have the findings of fact ready for action at the board's May 27 meeting.

Two other applications were heard but not decided Tuesday evening. Neither attracted significant comment.

• Michael Sabatini, representing Cleveland Street Retreat LLC, again reviewed plans to convert part of the Pellerin Campground off Vassalboro Road into a cabinium development. The Sabatini family plans up to 16 cabins, each individually owned, with the grounds and access road owned and maintained in common.

Sabatini has also applied to have most of the town's standards for private subdivision roads waived. The existing road is well enough built for safety, he said and widening it to town standards would be neither environmentally nor aesthetically beneficial.

• Surveyor Elwood Ellis, representing subdivision owners Jason and Melissa Finley, again summarized their request to divide one lot with two houses on it into two lots, so that they can sell one house.

Jason Fredette, who hoped to move into the house he is buying right away, was dismayed at the Planning Board's two-week delay. Rollins explained that the board needs to have written documentation for review by the appeals board or court if a decision is appealed. Since the findings of fact cannot be written before evidence from the public hearing is considered, same-night action is not possible.