Kennebunk voters approve big projects, Barnard Tavern rezone, and more

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Voters approved a number of high-profile proposals during the recent annual town meeting on June 14, setting the stage for new projects and improvements in the community and ushering in a new and updated plan for Kennebunk’s future.

$11M town garage/transfer station upgrade approved by voters

By a vote of 1,461 to 713, voters approved up to $11 million in bonding to finance the construction, replacement, equipping and repair of the town’s garage and solid waste transfer and recycling facility at 36 Sea Road.

The public services department has outgrown its current facility at the site. The town put the project before voters last week so that it can address issues related to ventilation, mechanical systems, code compliance, and public access, among other concerns at the site.

Town adopts new comprehensive plan

Thanks to an affirmative vote of 1,760 to 364, the town has a new comprehensive plan to guide the community in its development and other endeavors in the years ahead.

Resident Janice Vance led the town’s Comprehensive Plan Committee, which created the new community blueprint. Finished in 2021, the plan is an outline for the future of Kennebunk, one that provides a framework for zoning and ordinances and offers guidance for the town’s development.

Community Planning Director Chris Osterrieder said earlier this year the plan will provide direction for the town for years to come.

The town-appointed committee spent years updating the town’s current plan. The committee met twice a month, held a community survey, reached out to several local organizations, organized open houses and online discussions, and attended workshops with the Planning Board and Select Board. The process concluded with two public hearings that gave residents a chance to weigh in.

The 2021 plan opens with a vision statement, noting the town completed its first major comprehensive plan in 1991, with emphasis on maintaining a “small-town” character and providing guidance for preserving open space, protecting natural resources, supporting the local business community, and managing growth, among other priorities.

The plan was last approved in 2003 and amended in 2011.

The state’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, signed off on the new plan, declaring it complete and in step with the Maine Growth Management Act.

Barnard Tavern zoning change gets OK

With a tally of 1,639 to 502, voters approved a request to rezone 9 Barnard Lane, the site of the former Barnard Tavern, from the Village Residential District to the Portland Road Mixed Use District.

The tavern’s owners, Randy and Kari Gates, requested the zone change, which will allow them to pursue their plans of opening a new inn on the property. The Barnard land abutted the Portland Road Mixed Use District, so the request was a matter of simply extending the district to include the Gates property.

The Gates couple purchased the historic tavern in early 2021. Earlier this year, the town’s Historic Preservation Commission approved the Gateses’ plans to deconstruct the dilapidated tavern and reconstruct it.

June 14 was not the first time the Barnard Tavern project went before voters. In November, voters freed the town of Kennebunk from its right to enforce a covenant in a deed that had been tied to the historic tavern.

While votes at the polls have been smooth sailing for the Gateses, they have encountered resistance in their efforts to revitalize their property.

In order to proceed with their plans, the Gateses needed the tavern’s previous owner, Dr. Jo Johnson, to release another deed restriction, one she placed on the structure when she sold it in 2016. The restriction said that the tavern could not be taken down. For months, Johnson refused to release the restriction. Earlier this year, however, she did.

And while the Historic Preservation Commission gave the couple approval for their deconstruction-reconstruction plan, it was not without some expressed disappointment.

“Some of us are very sad about that,” Frances Smith, the chair of the commission, said about the commission’s approval of the plan.

In earlier interviews, Kari Gates said she and her husband hope to open a new inn in the reconstructed building by St. Patrick’s Day in March of 2023. Currently, the couple is going through the town’s permitting process.

Earlier this week, Kari Gates thanked the voters for their support but noted that her and her husband’s project is behind schedule. She hinted at some frustration with the town’s process but declined to elaborate.

“We’re a long way from where we expected to be at this point moving forward,” Gates said. “That’s all I can say now.”

A new Pilot House restaurant in the works

To the tune of 1,514 to 552, voters also approved a contract zoning agreement that helps Kylie Raymond and Nicholas Raymond, of Kyick Holdings, LLC, in their goal of building a new Pilot House restaurant on Harbor Lane and relocating The Spirit of Massachusetts, their floating restaurant, from the Kennebunk River onto land.

The property had been located within the town’s Lower Village Business and Shoreland Overlay zoning districts. The Raymonds sought the newly approved contract zone because they were not able to carry out their plans under the original zoning.

Though now approved, the contract zone will not result in any additional uses on the property and will only make adjustments to setbacks to enable the proposed developments on the land, according to the application.

At a Planning Board meeting earlier this year, the applicants maintained their project will have benefits to the public because it involves improving traffic flow, adding parking and indoor and outdoor restrooms, and installing three Bio Clean Catch Basins and cement curbing to manage water run-off that would otherwise go into the Kennebunk River.

Confronting Climate Change

Voters also approved authorizing the Kennebunk Select Board to convey to state legislators, members of Congress, Governor Janet Mills and President Joseph Biden that the town calls upon federal elected officials to enact carbon-pricing legislation to “protect Maine from the costs and environmental risks of continued climate inaction.”

The authorization, approved by a vote of 1,416 to 714, stems from a petition, brought forth by resident Tom Berry. The affirmative vote lends support for Cash-Back Carbon Pricing – a concept in which producers of fossil fuels would be charged for their carbon pollution. Funds that are charged and collected would be rebated to residents on “an equal basis” with monthly dividend checks.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk Maine voters approve big projects, Barnard Tavern rezone, and more