An application for a bed-and-breakfast with attached wine bar in the former Stahl’s Tavern at 926 School St. received approval from the Waldoboro Planning Board on April 13. Three rooms will open June 1, with two more to follow. (Elizabeth Walztoni photo, LCN file)
A five-bedroom bed-and-breakfast and an attached wine bar are coming to Waldoboro village this summer with the approval of a site plan for the former Stahl’s Tavern at 926 School St.
Waldoboro Planning Board members approved the site plan for the Waldoboro Inn and new Stahl’s Tavern 4-1 on Thursday, April 13 following extensive discussion about parking concerns in the village.
According to application materials, the building was constructed in 1880 and operated as Stahl’s Tavern from the 1930s through the late 1960s. It was purchased late last year and an LLC formed by four ownership partners, Danielle Lombardi, Nathan Reimer, Alexa Stark, and Eric Stark.
The bed-and-breakfast will include an acupuncture and massage service and host events with local businesses.
Additionally, “the Waldoboro Inn will have a huge emphasis on art and giving space to all forms of craft,” initial application materials said, including pastries, custom textile goods, and local art displays.
A wine bar on the ground floor of the building’s carriage house will be open to the public year-round with reduced space and hours in the cold months, according to Reimer, who presented the site plan to the board on Thursday.
The wine bar’s operation is still pending town and state liquor license approval for wine and beer sales.
Three rooms are planned to open June 1 with two more to follow. Renovations will be entirely interior except for painting outside, Reimer said, beginning as soon as possible to be completed by next June.
Five overnight parking spaces, one for each guest room, will be provided off-site through a lease with the Waldoboro Public Library for its lot. The board voted to make the approval conditional on the continuation of a parking agreement.
Three existing on-site parking spaces will be used by the owner, staff, and for loading and unloading.
Discussion centered on parking concerns for the wine bar, which comes alongside neighbor concerns at previous meetings of both the planning and select boards about traffic overflow and cars parking illegally on School Street.
Residents and board members have referenced The Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro Public Library, Broad Bay Congregational Church of Christ, and Hall’s Funeral Home, all clustered together, as contributors to parking concerns.
Wine bar customers will be directed to 22 public parking spaces on Glidden, Main, and Pleasant streets, Reimer said.
A pre-application in February included 11 on-site parking spaces, and several board members said they were concerned about the change in plans to reliance on public parking.
“I’ve spent hours in that yard with a tape measure,” Reimer said. “… We’re not being stingy. It’s just not actually feasible.”
He said even paving the entire yard would yield three or four spaces, due to parking space requirements.
“I’m very concerned about pushing all parking onto public parking,” planning board member Mark Stults said. “That doesn’t sit very well to me. It seems like the town is now footing the bill for all parking spaces.
“We need to make sure we’re not … creating a situation where we’re pushing things out for the long term,” Stults said.
Max Johnstone, planning and development director for the town, said Public Works Director John Daigle has ordered no parking signs for the street and the police should be called if parking continues.
The town will also likely close on the purchase of the Wooster parking lot this month, which will add to the 24 public spaces at the Kuhn Lot. Johnstone said larger parking issues are a town office responsibility, rather than the planning board.
Discussion of wine bar parking was complicated by the town’s land use ordinance, which does not provide parking requirements for a bar use specifically. The board had used the restaurant standards, which would require seven spaces, in previous discussion as the closest establishment.
Waldoboro Planning Board Chair Brendan McGuirl said he read the situation to mean the number of spaces should be determined by the planning board, rather than the planning board determining closest use.
He said he thought the plan was reasonable based on the low occupancy of the 600-square-foot wine bar and its location.
“There are always parking spaces, they’re just not where you want them,” McGuirl said.
He also suggested the offsite parking could keep the neighborhood quiet and reduce nighttime lights from traffic, two concerns raised by neighbors in previous meetings.
“I’m accepting it, but I’m wondering what we should do in the future,” member Barbara Boardman said, questioning the language of the ordinance.
The board voted 4-1, with Stults opposed, to accept the application on conditions of continuing an off-street parking agreement for the bed-and-breakfast and receiving a letter from the Waldoboro Utility District that it can meet sewer requirements.
The Waldoboro Planning Board next meets at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 11 in the town office and online.
