The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen are considering instituting a pay-to-park pilot program in the downtown municipal parking lot.
The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen met for its yearly goal-setting workshop Wednesday, Aug. 10. In addition to pay-to-park, the selectmen covered a variety of other topics, including the possible conversion of Elm Street into a one-way street, setting the fee schedule for permits and applications, and emergency management.
Damariscotta first began exploring a pay-to-park system for the municipal lot in August 2012. The town later commissioned a grant-funded study that recommended a $1 hourly fee with season passes available to residents.
The topic has been a recurring conversation between the town, residents, and the business community. In October 2015, the selectmen held a workshop with Twin Villages Alliance members to discuss how funds could be raised for the planned improvements to the parking lot.
During the Aug. 10 workshop, Town Manager Matt Lutkus said the board could institute a pilot program to test what a pay-for-parking system would look like in the municipal lot. The selectmen expressed interest in the idea.
“It introduces the machine and the concept and lets people see it and get comfortable with it,” Selectman Jim Cosgrove said. “We’re doing this for revenue, not to control parking.”
Of the 140 public spaces in the municipal lot, about 34 parking spaces along the waterfront would be metered. The eight parking spaces along the waterfront reserved for boaters would be unaffected.
The parking spaces used for the pilot program would be the same spaces that had previously been used for eight-hour parking. The hourly fee was not determined.
The selectmen directed Lutkus to research the possibility of instituting the pilot program. More discussion on the topic will take place at future meetings of the board.
The board also discussed the possibility of converting Elm Street into a one-way street.
The topic has previously been broached, including in February 2015, when Damariscotta was in the process of submitting a Community Development Block Grant application for improvements to the street, including the reconstruction of sidewalks and replacement of waterlines.
During a public hearing to discuss the project, Travis Pryor, of Wright-Pierce Engineers, said changing Elm Street traffic to one-way would be one option to accommodate the widening of sidewalks from 3 feet to 5 feet. The option was met with resistance and approval from residents.
The Elm Street project was not chosen to receive the Community Development Block Grant in 2015 or 2016.
The town, with assistance from the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District and Tidewater Telecom Inc., is planning a similar project on a smaller scale using the $65,540 voters approved for a local match for a grant and $30,000 from the Richard Else sidewalk fund.
Board of selectmen Chair Robin Mayer said if the town was to consider converting Elm Street into a one-way street, the work should be done now, in case the conversion would impact the project.
If Elm Street had one-way traffic, it could allow the town to put angular parking spaces on the street and add more parking spaces, Mayer said.
Cosgrove said changing Elm Street to one-way traffic could have unintended consequences, such as increasing the amount of traffic on Church Street.
Lutkus will consult with Pryor and update the selectmen at a later meeting.
Selectmen also talked about borrowing $500,000 from one of the local banks. The funds would be used if a grant requires a local match and for capital projects, Lutkus said.
The town will pay off one of its loans in October, Lutkus said.
At a previous meeting, Selectman Mark Hagar asked if there were any additional funds that could be used for the Elm Street project if the drainage improvements required were more extensive than originally planned.
If the selectmen were to take out the loan, the funds could be used to pay for any additional improvements to Elm Street and other capital projects, including the replacement of a culvert on Egypt Road.
Lutkus will present loan proposals to the selectmen at a future meeting.
The board of selectmen meets the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Damariscotta town office. Meetings begin at 5:30 p.m.
