The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen approved a two-month lease of a 40-space parking lot at 26 Water St., 3-2 at its June 6 meeting.
Josh Pinkham and Vicki Pinkham voted against the lease, intended to alleviate the perennial parking shortage and traffic congestion in downtown Damariscotta during July and August.
The town will pay $1000 toward the lease; the Twin Villages Downtown Alliance will also chip in $1000.
The board approved the lease despite objections from a neighbor to the property and another resident.
Franciska Needham, a Water Street resident, said her property abuts the parking lot. Needham asked a series of questions about drainage, lighting, notification of abutters, property taxes and wetlands protection.
“There should be some reduced tax for residents and anyone abutting or viewing that parking lot,” Needham said.
Needham said she is “in favor of the parking lot” but wanted answers to her questions. Later, however, she said she doesn’t think the town “should burden its taxpayers” with the lease.
Lutkus said the town does not plan to fill wetlands or install additional lighting.
“What we want to do is try it out for July and August of this year and see how it works, see what the response is among the businesses in the area,” Lutkus said.
“We don’t believe there will be any impact on property values,” Lutkus said.
Needham said she disagrees and will apply for a tax abatement when she receives her bill.
Leisa Sprague, a Lessner Road resident, questioned why the town would contribute anything to the cost of the lease. “Why isn’t the [Twin Villages Downtown Alliance] leasing it?” she asked.
Lutkus, in his response, talked about the long partnership between businesses (“a vital part of this community”) and municipal government and said Damariscotta’s role in the lease is “just another piece” of that partnership.
He also said the town “previously looked at purchasing property at huge expense” for a parking lot further away from the downtown and called the $1000 price tag of the lease “very small in comparison.”
“The lease arrangement that we have is very, very favorable,” Lutkus said. “It’s going to benefit much more than the downtown businesses.”
Damariscotta citizens who patronize those businesses, visitors to the town and businesses from outside the downtown who use downtown services or simply travel through downtown will all benefit from the impact on parking and traffic, Lutkus said.
Sprague said the expense of the lease might appear insignificant, but future construction and maintenance costs could pile up.
“You’re opening our town and our taxpayers up to a lot more down the road by entertaining this now,” Sprague said. She also questioned why the lease “wasn’t put out to a vote for the taxpayers to ask them if they think it would be beneficial.”
Damariscotta voters overwhelmingly approved the expenditure of almost $9000 – about nine times the amount of the lease under discussion – for a similar proposal 10 years ago.
Sprague also suggested that the closure of Waltz Pharmacy and unspecified commercial vacancies downtown mean there will be less parking and traffic issues this summer. “There’s a lot of traffic that’s not going to be there that has been there in the past,” she said.
Renys is already expanding into the pharmacy space.
“I think that the taxpayers should be given a choice,” Sprague said. “[The lease] isn’t going to do a thing for me.”
Twin Villages Downtown Alliance Chairwoman Mary Kate Reny said the organization already has 25 employees “scrambling” to secure parking spaces. “It’ll be no problem to get 40 people,” she said.
The alliance will sell permits for parking in the lot and hopes to recoup its share of the cost.
“I think it’s a great first try,” Reny said. “It really is just an experiment.”
“A congested downtown impacts all of us – all the businesses on the peninsula, all the B&Bs, all the locals,” she said, while “a well-working downtown” benefits businesses, property values and quality of life.
Selectman Josh Pinkham asked if the alliance, if it collects enough permit fees to cover its costs, would consider giving any profit to the town to reimburse it for its costs. He also suggested that the alliance be responsible for all lease costs in future years.
Reny did not provide a definitive answer but indicated the alliance would be willing to revisit the matter in the future.
The selectmen ultimately approved the lease and a “memorandum of understanding” with the alliance regarding both entities’ roles with regards to the lease by the same 3-2 vote.
The Estate of Milton Plummer is the lessor.
