WATERVILLE — Councilors on Tuesday will consider authorizing closing parts of Silver Street and Merchant’s Way downtown to through traffic from April 1, 2021 to Nov. 1, 2021 to provide additional opportunities for outdoor dining.
The Waterville City Council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in Mid-Day Cafe at the Mid-Maine Technical Center at Waterville Senior High School and will be preceded by an executive session at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a real estate matter.
The outdoor dining resolution councilors will consider says the closure of the streets is for 2021 only and that no permanent structures will be erected on those streets or on The Concourse. As part of the resolution, permission also would be given to The Proper Pig restaurant to use part of Common Street in the same way it did this year.
The council authorized outdoor dining to be extended to Nov. 1 this year, and the Lion’s Den restaurant requested, and was granted permission for, extending outdoor dining until April 1, 2021. That restaurant, which uses an outdoor structure on The Concourse off Merchant’s Way, is working on possible plans for winter, including serving hors d’oeuvres, having an ice bar and possibly fire pits.
Silver Street Tavern, the Last Unicorn and Cancun restaurants operate outdoor dining on part of Silver Street. The outdoor dining dates for next year also would apply for You Know Whose Pub and Holy Cannoli off Merchant’s Way.
In other matters Tuesday, the council had planned to consider taking a final vote to approve a lease for the Alfond Youth & Community Center for city-owned land adjacent to the Alfond Municipal Pool on North Street for building a community ice rink. However, City Manager Michael Roy said Monday that the council will have to postpone voting on the lease.
“We still haven’t figured out the size of the lot that this lease covers,” he said.
The council on Oct. 6 took a first vote to approve a 99-year lease for the property so the Alfond Center can build a rink, but Alfond officials said they must first get a nod from the center’s board of directors before starting to raise funds with Central Maine Youth Hockey for the rink.
The council is scheduled to consider a separate request Tuesday to refer to the Planning Board for public hearing and recommendation a proposal to rezone part of the land for the rink from Resource Protection to Industrial Zone, rezone the shoreland part of the property from Resource Protection to Class B shoreland and make revisions to the Institutional Zone to reduce building setback requirements.
Roy said the project “can’t go forward until we solve some of the zoning-related questions around the rink lot,” including the size of the lot and how much shore frontage it needs to have.
The Planning Board does not have authority to make zoning changes, but may recommend such changes to the council, which does have the power to rezone.
The council also will consider final votes to approve amendments to the marijuana ordinance, accept an $11,837 Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund Grant for trail work at Quarry Road Recreation Area, and accept an $80,000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life to support planning and operation of safe and secure elections.
Councilors are scheduled to take a first of two votes needed to refer to the Planning Board a request by M&J Properties LLC that 125 Airport Road be rezoned from Airport Industrial to General Industrial to allow for construction of a marijuana growing facility. They also will be asked to accept an offer of $64,900 from M&J Properties for Lot. No. 7 in the Airport Road Subdivision.
Councilors also plan to consider appointing Mark Wardecker to the Waterville Public Library Board of Trustees for a term to expire in 2023; issuing a secondhand license to Damon’s Vintage Vinyl LLC, doing business as The Record Connection at 252 Main St.; and approving changes to the MainePERS retirement plan for Waterville Professional Firefighters Union.
Councilors will be asked to take the first of two needed votes to rezone about 22 acres of Airport Road from Airport District to Airport Industrial District to allow Cenergy to construct a solar farm. They also will be asked to refer to the Planning Board for public hearing and recommendation a request from a resident to reconsider regulations of the zoning ordinance regarding the keeping of chickens. Roy said a resident is requesting the city’s required lot size for keeping chickens be reduced.
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