Council OK’s amendment to allow manufacturing in commercial zones

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
    DEXTER — The Dexter Town Council agreed with a recommendation from the Planning Board that manufacturing should be permitted in the community’s commercial district, rather than being limited to the industrial zone.
    The council voted 5-1 — with one member absent — to modify the town’s land use ordinance at its May 8 meeting.

Observer photo/Mike Lange
    HONORED — Dexter Town Clerk Kim Hughes was presented with a plaque during last week’s town council meeting in recognition of her 11 years of service as secretary to the Planning Board. Pictured with Hughes is Code Enforcement Officer Al Tempesta.

    The only change from the Planning Board recommendation was the deletion of “natural resource extraction and processing activities” as permitted uses in the town’s sole industrial zone: the area around the municipal airport.
    Some residents had questioned whether this type of manufacturing would have an adverse effect on the community, but Code Enforcement Officer Al Tempesta said that he doubted if anyone could obtain a “natural resource exaction permit from the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), anyhow.”
    Tempesta added, however, that he saw no problem with the sentence being deleted, either. “It wouldn’t change the purpose of the zoning amendment,” he said.
    Councilor Missy Smith cast the lone vote against the amendment, but emphasized that she wasn’t against the ordinance — she just preferred to keep the original language intact.
    The request for an expansion of the town’s manufacturing zone stemmed from an ongoing attempt by a group of local entrepreneurs to restart a shoemaking operation in the community. The owner of the former Dexter Middle School complex, Gerry Marshall, has offered the use of his buildings for the start-up company.
    But town officials then realized that the old school buildings are in a commercial zone where manufacturing wasn’t permitted under the current law.
    The amended ordinance is now posted on the town’s website: www.dextermaine.org.
    Councilors also approved an amendment to the fire department’s bylaws that outlined the procedure for changing rules and regulations and eligibility to hold office in the department.
    Town Manager Shelley Watson reported that the Lincoln Street washout repairs were almost completed and traffic should be back to normal in a few days. Flood waters from the Sebasticook River dislodged a culvert on the heavily-traveled street which broke through the pavement.
    The metal culvert was replaced with two 70-foot concrete sections and the road was scheduled to be repaved on Friday, May 9 — weather permitting.
    The flood also took out the small bridge between Millside Fitness and the Grist Mill Museum and Public Works Director Mike Delaware updated the council on those repairs.
    He suggested that the council waive the bidding process so that the same crew working on Lincoln Street can begin repairs at the other damaged site. “The pipe will be here Monday, the equipment is on site, the water is low and they’re ready to go,” Delaware said. The total cost, including the pipe, will be around $20,000 and there is still enough money in the public works budget, he added.
    The council agreed and gave Delaware the go-ahead to get started. The public works director also said that they wanted to get started soon to “make the area safe enough” for repairs to be made to the footings under the museum building which extended into the stream bed.
    Dexter councilors will meet twice this week — May 14 and 15 — at 6 p.m. to work on the new municipal budget.