Dexter council sets rezoning proposal to May public hearing

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    DEXTER — The public will have one more opportunity to comment on a proposal to permit manufacturing in Dexter’s commercial zones, providing that any plans be approved by the town’s planning board.
    The Dexter Town Council voted last Thursday to set a public hearing on the ordinance at their May 8 meeting at 7 p.m.

    The council also moved to set a public hearing on two proposed changes to the fire department’s bylaws – one deleting the minimum number of members needed to approve new or revised regulations and the other one specifying qualifications for holding office in the department.
    The proposed zoning change was slightly different from the one recommended by the Planning Board last month. The major difference was the elimination of a rail manufacturing zone in the ordinance which would have allowed “more intensive heavy manufacturing operations (and) external freight-loading activities.” There are no railheads currently serving the Dexter area.
    The new ordinance would have two classifications for manufacturing zones: commercial and industrial. Activities permitted in the commercial zones would include “industrial, research, corporate/general office and business park development” as well as “warehousing and assembling, and manufacturing products from previously-prepared materials.”
    The last provision is a key component for a group of local entrepreneurs who want to restart limited shoe manufacturing in the community. Gerald Marshall, one of the major promoters of the operation, has offered the use of the old school complex on Abbot Hill, which he bought from the town a few years ago. But since the buildings are zoned as commercial, they couldn’t legally be used for shoemaking.
    Marshall revealed at Thursday’s meeting that the group has met with several shoe manufacturers and distributors recently and plans are coming together “much faster than we anticipated. It’s a little scary at times, frankly … But I’ve got a good group of experienced shoemakers working on this.” (See separate story)
    Dexter was once the headquarters of the footwear company bearing its name which employed 800 to 900 people. A few years after the company was sold, they moved their manufacturing overseas and closed all their Maine plants by 2001.
    In other business at the April 10 meeting, Judy Craig of the Dexter Regional Development Corporation told councilors that there has been considerable talk in the community about restarting a Fourth of July celebration this year. “I posted something on the Dexter Facebook page this morning and there has been a lot of response,” Craig said. “We don’t have a budget for it. But if we can get a lot of people to do a few things, we can have an old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration again.”
    Dexter hasn’t had a full-blown Independence Day observance in more than 20 years, although they do have fireworks each summer. Craig suggested a parade, chicken barbecue, games for children and exhibits by some of the town’s civic, veterans’ and fraternal organizations.
    Craig volunteered to serve on the committee along with Town Manager Shelley Watson and several others in the audience. “We still get calls at the office asking what time the (Fourth of July) parade starts, even though we haven’t had one for years,” Watson said. “So obviously there is interest.”