Head Start, a farmers market, and a public playground are set to return to Waldoboro in the next year. The Waldoboro Select Board discussed these opportunities and numerous other projects at its Tuesday, April 11 meeting.
Town Manager Julie Keizer said an agreement has been reached with Midcoast Maine Community Action to reopen a Head Start program and offer Early Head Start for the first time this fall at a location yet to be announced.
The former Head Start program chose to terminate its lease at the Friendship Street School in 2021 and began searching for a new space last year.
Head Start, for ages 3-5, and Early Head Start, for ages 6 weeks to 3 years, provide free educational programs for income-qualified families. Midcoast Maine Community Action currently operates Head Start centers in Bath, Brunswick, and Newcastle.
The program will host an enrollment event from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 26 at the Waldoboro Public Library.
The select board meeting opened with a presentation from Sterling Doiron and his wife Kailey, owners of the farm Uprooted LLC in Waldoboro, of plans to resurrect the Waldoboro Farmers Market.
The select board unanimously approved their proposal to host a market at the town office parking lot on Sundays from noon to 3 p.m. between June and September or October.
Vendors are still being registered, Doiron said, but at least four local farms are interested. The couple said they also plan to involve community outreach at the market, such as local music, school fundraisers, and Waldoboro Public Library programs.
Keizer said use of the parking lot has already been approved with the police and emergency medical services departments, which share the building, and the town office bathrooms will be open to the public during market hours.
The select board continues to evaluate options for a playground at the town recreation complex on West Main Street, and will meet to investigate the wooden and plastic-metal combination structure options.
It would be the only public playground in Waldoboro since the sale of the Friendship Street School in 2021, Keizer said at a previous meeting.
Playground plans could include a climbing structure and swings or only a climbing structure, depending on final budget decisions.
Recreation Director Marcus Benner presented quotes from CedarWorks Playsets, of Rockport, and Maine Recreation and Design, of Brunswick. Adding swings increased the quotes for some options by $10,000.
The project will be funded with leftover capital reserve funds from the Friendship Street School, according to Keizer.
The board authorized Keizer to notify the Land and Water Conservation Fund that the town plans to accept a transfer of ownership of the John Foster Field from the Medomak Valley Little League.
The transfer is expected to fulfill an obligation to the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which funded the tennis courts at the A.D. Gray School in the 1970s with a covenant stating the land must be available for recreation forever.
If the covenant is successfully transferred to the ball field following an appraisal, the town will be eligible for funds again.
The select board also reviewed a draft of the warrant for the annual town meeting, which includes new ordinances and ordinance changes.
Minor revisions to a disorderly property ordinance passed last year, amendments to the tax increment financing district program, and adjustments to the land use ordinance are proposed.
An amendment to the shellfish ordinance, proposed by the Waldoboro Shellfish Committee, will allow the sale of one-day recreational licenses for anyone, including out-of-state residents, for a maximum of two days per month and 10 days per year.
“They’ll appreciate what they pay at the supermarket or the shellfish dealer” after trying harvesting, board member Abden Simmons, who chairs the Waldoboro Shellfish Committee, said with a laugh.
Keizer said applicants would be put in contact with the town shellfish warden for recommendations of where to dig if the ordinance is approved.
The ordinance update also includes a $25 increase in license fees, which are used to sustain the shellfish program.
Simmons said the change was proposed to maintain funding for the program, which does not use town tax dollars. He said the license fee has not been raised in 10 to 15 years.
One proposed change to the land use ordinance directing the review process for planning applications, specifically in reference to which proposals go before the planning board and how they pass through the code enforcement officer and planning and development office, was removed at the recommendation of board member Bob Butler over language consistency concerns.
If approved, the remaining changes will reduce the number of planning board members to lower the number of members that must be present to reach a quorum.
Waldoboro Planning and Development Director Max Johnstone said this amendment was a result of challenges filling seats on the board.
Keizer said the town is close to closing on its purchase of the Wooster parking lot behind Friendship Street in downtown, with an expected date in the next ten days.
In other business, the board approved a new alcohol and controlled substance testing policy as recommended by the town’s testing program provider. It also authorized Public Works Director John Daigle to negotiate a contract trading screening sand for bank-run gravel. The contract will come before the board for approval.
The board also authorized Keizer to send a letter to planning board members acknowledging that the town has given Volunteers of America Northern New England the ability to apply to build on land the town still holds the title to.
The sale is still in negotiation, according to the letter.
An application for the 36-unit affordable senior housing project in place of the former school building will be reviewed by the Waldoboro Planning Board at its 6 p.m. meeting on Thursday, April 13 in the town office.
Board member Jann Minzy announced that the state Spirit of America Award has been presented to Ted and Betsy Wooster.
Keizer also announced the Waldoboro Business Association is restarting programming and will hold an event at the Cornhole Connection at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25.
The Waldoboro Select Board will attend that event immediately before it next meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25 in the town office and online.
