NEW VINEYARD – A meeting on Saturday brought residents to Smith Hall to look at the next six months of budgeting, which would bring the town to the July 1 beginning of its new fiscal year calendar.
Residents approved the adoption of a new shore land zoning ordinance that includes new restrictions on expansion of non-conforming structures in the Limited Residential district as well as new guidelines for piers, docks and wharfs. The ordinance also newly designates certain areas as significant waterfowl and wading bird habitats and sets new guidelines to follow for hazardous or storm-damaged trees and revegetation of property.
“This ordinance will be mandated by the state in another two years. This gives us some time to go over it and tweak it to suit our town,” Planning Board Chairwoman Adrienne Rollo said.
The Planning Board also requested, and were granted permission by residents, to move three lots in the Mill Pond Subdivision from the Resource Protection district to Limited Residential district and to amend the Building Permit Ordinance minimum lot size from 43,560 square feet down to 40,000 square feet.
A motion to raise and appropriate $30,000 towards the Handicap Accessible Capital Account for Smith Hall was approved by voters, with RSU 9 school board representative Richard Hargreaves leading the discussion.
The money would go towards installing a chair lift to the second floor, as well as a ramp on the outside of the building to the entrance and handicap parking spaces closer to the building. Hargreaves used the annual town meeting as an example as to why the renovations are needed- indicating that it is actually required by law for the town to hold meetings in a place accessible by everyone in the community. The town currently uses TV monitoring and a microphone system to include those who couldn’t physically get to the second floor of the building and were situated on the first.
The total expenses approved for the six-month budget came to $236,499. The next annual meeting to set the budget for the following fiscal year is tentatively scheduled for June 2.
