Note: The dates at the end of this article are correct. The print edition dates are incorrect.
Twenty-two people attended an evening code writing workshop – the second of a series of three this week – at the Damariscotta Municipal Building April 18.
Participants included Lincoln County planner Bob Faunce, town planner Tony Dater, town consultants Paul Dreher and Jane Lafleur, two representatives of the proposed Piper Commons development, several members of the Damariscotta Planning and Advisory Committee (DPAC), Damariscotta Selectman Dave Wilbur and others.
With a draft of the “Damariscotta SmartCode” projected on the wall, the workshop focused on fine-tuning the document, with discussions – sometimes passionate – about issues such as acceptable tree species for roadside planting and maximum lot widths in the code’s five transects.
As disagreements became clear, workshop participants resolved their disputes democratically in town meeting style. A participant made a motion and a show of hands determined the outcome.
The draft code’s requirement of head-out diagonal parking didn’t pass muster. The applicable line would not have required diagonal parking throughout the town, but where property owners opted for diagonal parking, it would have required it to be head-out.
Head-out parking asks motorists to back into parking spaces. Proponents of head-out parking say it boosts traffic safety by improving the driver’s visibility while exiting the space.
Along a busy street, head-out parking also improves safety for passengers, particularly children, as they exit the car. Doors open toward the street, providing a natural buffer against traffic and guiding children toward sidewalks.
John Mann, a consultant for the Piper Commons developer, said head-out parking in Brunswick has proven unpopular.
Several others voiced opinions on either side of the issue. Eventually, a vote was called and participants narrowly discarded the line.
Another brief debate focused on a section of the draft code regulating signage.
Again, the majority of participants, including DPAC Vice Chair and Damariscotta architect George Parker, spoke against the section.
Parker and others said signage has not been a part of the public workshop process and expressed concern that a controversial signage section might cost the code votes when it goes before voters in June.
Damariscotta attorney Peter Drum defended the section. “If you don’t have sign standards, you’re going to have giant, interior-lit plastic signs,” Drum said.
Dater, Damariscotta’s town planner, moved to strike the section and include only a brief note referring to existing sign rules in the town’s Site Plan Ordinance.
The motion passed, 9-5.
The April 18-19 set of three workshops was the “tenth and final set of community workshops” on the code, according to a mass email from DPAC.
“We made great strides” during the workshops, Dreher said in an April 20 phone interview from his Newport, Vt. office. Dreher described Monday’s “very healthy debate” as typical of recent workshops. “It’s all fruitful,” he said.
Dreher and Lafleur will work with Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser to complete the code by Fri., April 22, Dreher said. The code will go before DPAC for approval Tues., April 26 and before the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen at a joint meeting with DPAC on Wed., April 27.
A public hearing on the code before the Damariscotta Planning Board is scheduled for Mon., May 2. “At the public hearing, anything can change,” Dreher said.
The process will continue through May and culminate with a vote at Damariscotta’s Annual Town Meeting on Wed., June 15.
