The fact that Damariscotta sits on a mostly man-made peninsula is something future planners will have to accept, Barnaby Porter said.

The Damariscotta Waterfront Committee member said even with that fact, the committee's job was to do the best they can with what they are given.

“It's what we've got,” he said. “We're strapped geographically, but we've got a chance to solve the parking problem, enhance the waterfront and preserve some real history.”

The Monday, March 10 meeting of the Damariscotta Waterfront Committee was focused mainly on the “what” instead of the “how” when it came to how to fix the town's municipal parking lot.

For the past several months, the committee has focused on what to do with the parking lot, as it pertains to rising sea levels, resurfacing and improving the aesthetics of what Porter called “the parlor room of the region.”

There were several meetings in November about what to do with the parking lot, and how to pay for it.

One option included pay-for-parking, which was listed as a possible solution by a study done on the lot, but it was quickly dismissed by those in attendance of the November meetings.

Instead, the lot will likely be funded the same way Skidompha Library was: private funds, grants and donations.

That money, which will vary from high-six figures to multiple millions, depending on the scope, could be used for public restrooms, a boardwalk, a pedestrian walkway from Taco Alley to the waterfront or other changes.

One of the main topics moving forward will be what's under the lot, according to Travis Pryor, engineer for Wright-Pierce.

“We looked at the existing conditions when we did our initial assessment,” he said. “The substructure is OK. If you are going to be serious about putting your utilities underground, you will have to dig up a lot of the parking lot.”

Any changes will also have to brought before the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers, Pryor said. Because the area has shown eel grass growth recently, no boardwalk could cover it and expect to be green-lit by the DEP, Pryor said.

The Army Corps most likely wouldn't approve of filling in an area, such as Misery Gulch, meaning the footprint of the lot is likely to stay the same.