NORRIDGEWOCK — There were few concerns voiced Monday night at a public hearing on the Great North Music and Arts Festival, which is expected to draw about 3,000 people to Red Barn Road in early September.
“For the most part all our operations are the same as last year,” said Chris Cote, the festival’s executive producer.
Just four residents outside of Cote and members of the planning board attended the meeting. Jim Lyman, a member of the Board of Selectmen who is also an abutting property owner, said he did have some concerns about the noise at last year’s festival and referenced a letter he had written to the board recommending that noise not be allowed after 2 a.m.
Town ordinance currently stipulates that a noise level of 70 decibels is allowed from 9 a.m. to midnight and 45 decibels is allowed from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m.
“I appreciate the fact that they’ve made some provisions, but I think if they can go full blast until 2 a.m. and then nothing after that, to me that is a reasonable compromise,” Lyman said.
The concern is not something that could be changed prior to the event, but could be looked at next year, said Planning Board Chairman Scott Campbell. The board approved the mass gathering ordinance for the festival by a vote of 4-0 pending receipt of proof of insurance.
Cote said after the vote that he also plans to continue to look into whether a beer garden would be possible at the festival. The proposal was discussed last week before the Board of Selectmen after Cote and Luke Duplessis, the owner of a Waterville restaurant that had been contracted to do the beer garden, came before the board saying they had already invested thousands of dollars in the beer garden believing that they would be able to get a permit.
Cote also said town officials had given him approval for the garden, which was never discussed at a planning board meeting, but according to Campbell was brought up to him at the last minute before paperwork was to be filed with the state.
The board of selectmen advised Cote last week that the sale of beer would probably not be possible because of the town’s blue laws.
Larry Sanborn, liquor enforcement division manager for the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, said Monday that there is no way for the town to get around the laws.
In 1933 when prohibition was repealed, the state gave all municipalities an opportunity to vote on what laws they wanted in place in their communities, Sanborn said.
State law refers to these as “local option questions.”
The only way for that to change would be if a petition was brought forth asking that the law be changed and it were voted on at a town meeting.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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