Wiscasset mulls what to ask would be-sidewalk users

Tue, 04/27/2021 - 7:45am

    Wiscasset may want details when shops, event-holders, or anyone else asks to take up space on Main Street’s sidewalks. On Zoom Monday night, the ordinance review committee continued drafting a policy for selectmen to consider. Talk turned to the permit application.

    ORC members said they would want applicants to say when and how long they would use the space, the number of tables and chairs, if any, and the tables’ size. That would keep everyone informed and avoid date conflicts among users, said committee members and Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Mary Ellen Barnes.

    “So we’re really just asking them to tell their story, without us judging it a lot but just being more informed,” Barnes said.

    Also Monday, selectmen’s liaison to the ORC, Selectman Sarah Whitfield, reviewed an update she received on the downtown section where bricks showered the sidewalk this month. The scope and timeline for repairs are still being determined, and the structure continues being stabilized, she said.

    Barnes will line up someone from Maine Municipal Association or the state’s Office of Marijuana Policy to come talk as the ORC prepares to draft a marijuana ordinance. And Chair Karl Olson said he would prefer to keep meeting on Zoom for now. “Yeah, we’re inoculated, but the numbers aren’t headed down yet.”