BELGRADE — A proposed traffic and parking ordinance rejected 2-2 recently could be revisited Tuesday during a regular selectmen’s meeting, and it could well be adopted at a future date.

The Board of Selectpersons has been asked to reconsider the proposed rules by one of the members, Michael Barrett. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Office.

“I’m going to submit a motion asking the board to reconsider partly because we didn’t have a full board for the earlier vote,” Barrett said Monday. “I also think it’s something we need to have.”

The proposed “Traffic Control and Parking Ordinance” addressed temporary street closings, use of sidewalks, including snow removal, and parking, as well as enforcement, largely in the village area. A copy of the proposed ordinance is on the town’s website.

Barrett said that under the board’s rules, he can ask for reconsideration within 30 days. Board members rejected the ordinance on July 18. If the vote to reconsider is successful, then the proposal would return for a re-vote two weeks later, Belgrade Town Manager Dennis Keschl said.

Barrett said that would allow time for the public to be notified.

Barrett and board chairman Gary Mahler voted in favor of the adopting the ordinance. Two selectmen, Ernie Rice and Rick Damren, opposed it. Selectman Ernst Merckens was absent, but he said Monday in an interview that he favors the ordinance.

“I agree with Dennis Keschl in that if we want to have any procedures in place at all to close a road for an event or address parking issues or snow emergencies, we have to have an ordinance in place with which to guide us,” Merckens said. “If we don’t have one, we can’t tell someone not to park somewhere or close a road for a street dance or a road race.”

Residents have raised concerns about enforcement and about requiring residents and business owners to clear snow from a 4-foot-wide sidewalk.

Merckens said he does not want to burden elderly residents or business owners, so he anticipates some discussion about that issue.

That vote on July 18 followed a half-hour public hearing where residents raised concerns about certain provisions in the ordinance.

At that meeting, Keschl told selectmen he looked into traffic and parking enforcement after he was asked about a brief closure of Minot Hill Road for a road race.

One resident pointed out a requirement calling for residents and business owners to clear snow from a 4-foot-wide sidewalk, and noted that the sidewalk will not be 4 feet wide until after the completion of a planned road reconstruction project.

Barrett had recommended removing the shoveling provision from the proposed ordinance.

The Maine Department of Transportation’s nearly $2.7 million reconstruction project of about a half-mile of Main Street in the village is set to start next spring. However, work will be suspended during July and Augusta.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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