CHINA — Five local referendums are to appear on the November ballot in China, ranging from a temporary ban on new power transmission lines to tweaks to the town’s Budget Committee and land codes.

The questions ask voters about making certain municipal positions appointed rather than elected, tweaking language in the town’s tax increment financing district ordinance, and several other proposals that local officials have described as “housekeeping changes.”

The marquee referendum for most is the power line moratorium, which was brought to the ballot after more than 250 residents signed a petition in support of the ban earlier this year.

If approved, the moratorium would outlaw new high-voltage power lines within the town limits for 180 days. The China Select Board has the ability to extend it afterward for additional 180-day bans.

Creating a rolling moratorium allows local officials to create ordinances more specifically tailored to China residents’ concerns, Town Manager Becky Hapgood said.

“The moratorium gets placed first, then it goes to the voters, and, in the meantime, you have that period of time, whether with the Planning Board or Select Board or both, to draft an ordinance for this,” Hapgood said during the Aug. 26 board meeting, at which the town placed the moratorium on the ballot.

The moratorium is a response to the Aroostook Renewable Gateway Project, a project that received support from the Maine Public Utilities Commission and state Legislature last year that would send energy generated by wind farms in Aroostook County over about 150 miles of high-voltage transmission lines to consumers in southern Maine and Massachusetts.

It was approved by Gov. Janet Mills as part of her administration’s goal of getting 100% of Maine’s electricity from renewable power sources by 2040, but shot down by the commission last year amid lengthy project delays and a ballooning cost that reached about $1.8 billion by the time the project was put on hold.

Earlier this month, Central Maine Power Co. announced it will make a bid to build a northern Maine electric transmission line, helped with $425 million in federal backing.

At least 10 other communities in central Maine have adopted similar power line construction moratoriums in the years since the Aroostook Gateway project was proposed. If adopted, China would become the largest Maine municipality by population with such a ban.

Local moratoriums, however, would likely not hold up under state scrutiny if the Public Utilities Commission reapproved the Aroostook Gateway or another high-voltage transmission line, because state policy supersedes local decisions. Any truly binding changes must come in the form of a municipal ordinance drafted after the vote in November, according to petition organizers.

Article 3, the first referendum on the ballot, seeks to define how much money China’s tax increment financing, or TIF, program will spend on a number of new and ongoing projects throughout the town.

China’s TIF program is funded by taxes paid by CMP on the South China substation and electric line that runs through the town.

Town TIF money funds everything from trail maintenance to events like the China Ice Days. The proposal on the ballot would discontinue funds for four of the projects and begin two new ones.

If approved, $225,000 of TIF funding would be spent on improving access to China Lake by extending the sidewalk on Causeway Road and acquiring docks for fishing and swimming on the lake. Another $50,000 is being requested to pave the nearby China Baptist Church parking lot.

The town is looking to discontinue funds for other projects, some of which have already been completed, including phases one and two of the Causeway Road project; the town’s revolving loan program; and China’s $30,000 fishway and dam improvement work.

Funds used on discontinued projects would be reallocated to other TIF programs, including trail maintenance, broadband internet access and “economic development events,” such as China Community Days.

Article 4 asks voters to change the town’s Budget Committee from an elected to an appointed board by repealing and replacing the committee’s guiding ordinance.

The change is prompted by a lack of interest in the committee, according to Town Clerk Angela Nelson. Three of the town’s six sitting committee members are terming out this year, and only one member took out paperwork to run again.

Allowing the Select Board to appoint the committee’s members directly would help the town address the vacancies, Nelson said.

“There’s been some difficulty filling seats on the committee,” she said, “so this is to address that a little bit.”

Article 5 seeks to establish the South China Development District, which would encompass most of South China Village along U.S. Route 202 and Maine State Route 32. The district’s purpose is to construct affordable housing, resources and services in a high-density development, according to town officials.

It was initially recommended in the town’s comprehensive plan four years ago, with town officials noting much of the land near the high-traffic Route 202 corridor is undeveloped and would provide “excellent commercial visibility” for new and existing businesses.

China’s 2020 comprehensive plan noted that the town “lacks a clearly defined commercial center,” but that “the rural countryside offers an attractive economic potential.” Officials said adopting the South China Development District would help tap that potential.

Article 6 aims to tweak definitions in the town’s land use and development codes regarding shoreland zoning and expanding the size of a structure, changes described by Nelson as “housekeeping.”

The proposed power line moratorium is to appear on the ballot as Article 7.

Voting is scheduled for 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 at the China Town Office portable building at 571 Lakeview Drive.

Absentee ballots are available at the Town Office through Oct. 31.