OGUNQUIT — Ogunquit voters will be faced with zoning issues, the budget and Board of Selectmen candidates when they go to the polls on Tuesday.
The zoning questions on the June 9 ballot include whether to expand small restaurants along Shore Road and whether to make changes to the zoning definition of a driveway. Included also is a proposal to remove the zoning category of Perkins Cove Residential District (E) and incorporate it into a zoning district with similar rules. Code enforcement officer Scott Heyland said during a recent meeting with the Board of Selectmen that the change represented a simplification of the zoning map.
The zoning question for driveways comes from a citizen’s petition. It would restore the definition of a driveway to serving not more than two lots, rather than the current definition which limits driveways to a lot with no more than two dwelling units.
Voters will also be asked to approve an $8 million municipal budget. According to Town Manager Thomas Fortier, the proposed municipal budget would represent a 2.75 percent increase, or 27 cents, in the mil rate. They will be asked to approve a 4.2 percent, or 42 cents, increase in their share of and the Wells-Ogunquit Consolidated School District budget. For a property assessed at $200,000, this means a $55 increase in taxes on the municipal side, which combined with a $84 increase paying for their part of the Wells-Ogunquit CSD, means a $139 increase in total property taxes, bringing the mil rate up to 8.2 percent.
Ogunquit residents will be asked to approve some bonds, the most significant bond being a $275,000 municipal bond to repair and restore the footbridge crossover as well as the bathrooms on beach side of the footbridge.
“We recently renovated the Dunaway Center restrooms, Perkins Cove restrooms, and we would like to keep that momentum on upgrading facilities,” Town Manager Thomas Fortier wrote in an email.
Other budget appropriations include $140,000 for paving Woodbury Lane, Stearns Road, Ledge Road, Rebecca Road, and the lower lot parking lot, and $11,000 for the Marginal Way committee to fight invasive plants along the oceanside walkway and restore some of the area.
In addition to zoning and budget issues, three candidates ”“ incumbents John Daley and Robert Winn Jr., as well as challenger Kenneth Walsh ”“ will be vying for two seats on the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday.
Walsh has worked for many years as the manager of Designer Document services. Currently he is on the Planning Board, and has spent four years on the Budget Board as well.
“The business community and non-business community can do a better job of getting along,” Walsh said.
Walsh’s biggest goals would be to ensure tax money is being spent wisely, and spend money on the Ogunquit Playhouse and to repair Marginal Way, features that he says draw tourists to visit and homebuyers to move into town.
Robert (Bob) Winn Jr. is a schoolteacher who occasionally builds houses, and has served for 4 1/2 years on the Board of Selectmen.
“I really have no agenda other than to service the town so I make the right choices to serve the town, try to keep things as transparent as possible and ask the right questions ”“ I’m not really a politician,” Winn said.
Winn’s agenda for the upcoming years will be to continue working on many of the projects he has begun, including work on Marginal Way and Perkins Cove as well as managing the impact and infrastructure of tourism in Ogunquit.
John Daley, the other incumbent, has served on the Board of Selectmen since 2012. He could not be reached prior to press time.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less