Damariscotta residents sit in the Great Salt Bay Community School cafeteria during a special town meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Voters approved all articles on the warrant, which included allocating funds for electric vehicle chargers in the municipal back parking lot, amendments to the shoreland zoning ordinance, and the acceptance of a new comprehensive plan. (Johnathan Riley photo)
A new comprehensive plan more than two years in the making was approved by Damariscotta residents during a special town meeting at Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Great Salt Bay Community School.
Michael Martone, who worked with the Damariscotta Comprehensive Plan Committee on drafting the document, said while the document’s vision isn’t much different than its predecessor, which was adopted by the town in 2014, the plan did needed to be updated.
“It’s a relief, because it’s a big step forward,” he said.
The comprehensive plan outlines the community’s vision and strategies for managing growth and development for roughly a 10-year period. Residents approved the document by overwhelming majority with no discussion.
The process of putting together an updated plan began in January 2022 when the select board appointed a comprehensive plan committee to facilitate the planning process.
The public input and engagement process began in April 2023 with a kickoff event attended by over 40 people at the town office.
During the spring and summer of 2023, comprehensive plan committee members set up information tables around town and garnered over 250 comments concerning the central ideas brought up at the kickoff meeting.
Committee members, Martone, and IOV Community Planning and Consulting representative Isabelle Oechslie held a range of meetings with everyone from local employers to school children to get input.
Damariscotta Planning Board member Jenny Begin said residents “really cherish” many aspects of the town, including the village area and natural resource like the river and lakes.
With the plan accepted by the voters, Martone said the next step is to meet with the comprehensive plan committee to discuss the final steps, a possible comprehensive plan implementation committee, and to send the plan to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Municipal Planning Assistance Program for approval.
“We’ve got a number of people who want to be involved in implementation,” Martone said.
Also during the meeting, voters approved amendments to the land use and shoreland zoning ordinances and the appropriation of the town’s remaining American Rescue Act Plan funds and gave town officials permission to front the costs of installing electric vehicle chargers downtown.
Amendments to the land use ordinance clarified language in the ordinance and added definitions for better understanding.
Other adjustments concern bringing the town into compliance with L.D. 2003, legislation intended to increase access to affordable housing by reducing regulatory barriers at the local level. The approved changes to the land use ordinances allow the construction of up to four accessory dwelling units on a property depending on the zoning of the area, according to Martone.
The amendments to the shoreland zoning ordinance pertain to the C1 district, or downtown Damariscotta, which falls almost entirely in the shoreland zone. The changes increase the amount of residential units that can fit on an acre from four to 40, which may seem like a lot, but is actually bringing some existing buildings into code, according to Martone.
Begin said she wouldn’t want to see a development downtown with 40 units in an acre.
“The reality is it would be hard to cobble together an acre in the downtown area, but I just feel like I wouldn’t want to see a unit development downtown,” she said.
Damariscotta Town Manager Andy Dorr said there are already units in the downtown area with a higher density than 40 units and Martone said the units-per-acre number was chosen to try to bring some of those existing structures into compliance.
Elsewhere on the warrant, the town got permission from voters to front the $115,000 cost of the installation of four electrical vehicle chargers in the town’s municipal parking lot from the undesignated fund balance.
Voters briefly discussed location of the chargers, the kind of chargers, and what was going to happen with the previous chargers in the parking lot located in Taco Alley.
Dorr said the town has no plans on repairing the chargers in Taco Alley due to a few factors, including the fact the parts needed for repair are backordered for over a year.
The four new electric vehicle charging stations will total eight chargers available for use.
According to ReVision Energy representative Tony Giambro’s estimates, the project will cost $114,503 to complete. However, with a potential $80,000 Efficiency Maine rebate and an available $34,351 tax credit, the cost could be as little as $152, Giambro said at the Nov. 6 select board meeting.
Based on his experience with other municipalities, Giambro said it’s unlikely the town wouldn’t receive the rebate or the credit, but were that to happen, ReVision Energy would work with the town.
The town will also be able to generate funds from the chargers by incorporating a fee into the cost of charging a vehicle, according to Giambro.
The last article on the warrant voters approved was the appropriation of remaining undesignated American Rescue Plan Act funds to make improvements to the town meeting room at the town office.
The unspent funds, totaling $12,500, must be committed by the town by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
Proposed uses for the funds from select board members include investing in meeting room upgrades pertaining to upgrading the camera system for better video quality and fixing doors leading to the meeting room, which Dorr said don’t operate correctly as a handicap accessible entrance.
“It’s all about providing access to meeting room, physically and virtually,” Dorr said.
The comprehensive plan can be read in person at the town office at 21 School St. in Damariscotta or accessed on the town’s website at damariscottame.com.
