The Central Lincoln County YMCA will have to wait until spring to finish paving its parking lot, Executive Director Craig Wilson said Dec. 6.
The materials necessary for the work aren’t available, as paving plants have shut down for the season, Wilson said.
Landscaping improvements will also have to wait for warmer weather, Wilson said.
The YMCA also continues to wait for approval of its site plan. Wilson and other YMCA representatives met with the Damariscotta Planning Board Dec. 5 to discuss the plan.
Jonathan Edgerton, a senior vice president at the engineering firm Wright-Pierce, presented the YMCA’s stormwater plan.
The organization plans to install a 15-inch pipe to collect stormwater and discharge it to a wetland behind the YMCA.
Wilson addressed landscaping and lighting.
Efficient LED lights, already in place, will consume “approximately 25 percent of the energy load we currently use to light the parking lot,” Wilson said, while creating a safer parking lot.
The light poles stand 20 feet high, four feet higher than the 16-foot limit in the applicable municipal ordinance.
The 16-foot limit is designed to protect second-story residences from light pollution, Damariscotta Town Planner Tony Dater explained. The concern doesn’t necessarily apply to the YMCA, which doesn’t have residential neighbors.
Wilson requested and the Planning Board approved a waiver, 3-1-1. Steve Cole opposed the waiver, expressing concern about setting a precedent for commercial projects. Chairman Fred Sewall abstained.
Sewall said the YMCA should shield the lights at the property line, which Wilson agreed to do.
Finally, Wilson presented the landscaping plan.
Laroy Ellinwood, who owns Damariscotta Tri-Bay Laundramat and Dry Cleaners, which abuts the YMCA to the south, objected to the plan.
Ellinwood said the YMCA should plant trees along part of the property line where the YMCA removed several trees at the commencement of construction, but Wilson said the plan called for grass only in that area.
Ultimately, the Planning Board sided with Ellinwood and asked Wilson to resubmit the landscape plan with a buffer of additional plantings along the property line.
The Damariscotta Planning Board will meet next on Mon., Jan. 9, at which time it will recommence consideration of the YMCA application.
The YMCA cannot resume work until the Planning Board approves the site plan, Damariscotta Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz said.
Damariscotta didn’t initially require site plan review and the YMCA started work before the town, responding to Ellinwood’s concerns and issues regarding the scope of the project, asked the YMCA to submit its application.
The parking lot is the first phase of the YMCA’s plan to add a swimming pool, build a new lobby and new locker rooms, and make other improvements to its building and campus.
