York election 2023: Voters to decide 78 articles including $1.1M for Long Sands Beach seawall

YORK, Maine — Voters will return to the polls May 20 to decide a number of warrant articles, from the hiring of two new police officers to a study on the future of the town’s community center.

A total of 78 warrant articles also includes funding for the construction of the next phase of the York Beach seawall and the expansion of a popular community garden. The vote will take place at the Robert E. Butler Gymnasium at York High School on May 20 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The day’s vote will also include a single contested race between three candidates for two Selectboard seats.Incumbent Robert Palmer is seeking his fourth term, while Marla Johnson is seeking her first after three years on the Budget Committee. Also running is former Selectboard member Torbert Macdonald who last served in 2015. One of the two seats is made vacant by Selectboard member Kinley Gregg, who opted not to seek reelection.

Seawall upgrades

The town is seeking $1.1 million for the continued replacement of the Long Sands Beach seawall and sidewalk. The funds would be in the form of a bond, the debt service for which will bring the total cost up to $1.5 million, according to the article. The first-year payment would be an estimated $107,937.50, and would occur in fiscal year 2025.

York Public Works Director Dean Lessard said the article is critical to continuing a years-long phased approach to replacing the seawall. He said the seawall was damaged in two major storms in 2017 and 2018, which he said exposed the weaknesses in the aged seawall.

“The seawall protects the roads, sidewalks, and properties on the other side of them,” Lessard said. “What we saw in the storm of 2017 and the spring storm in March (2018), Riley, is that the seawall is aging, and it was vulnerable to damage.”

The new seawall, once completed, will make it more difficult for the ocean waves to damage infrastructure protected by the wall. He said the new seawall will be better designed to absorb some of the waves, preventing splash-over.

The article being put before voters states the money approved on May 20 would fund the completion of the third of five phases of the project, as well as start the fourth. The project covers seawall reconstruction and sidewalk extending south from the Cutty Sark Motel to just north of Little River Bridge on Long Beach Avenue, according to the article.

“If we don’t do any more work, the sections that have not been improved could be potentially in jeopardy,” Lessard said.

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DPW seeking $1.2M for town-wide road improvements

Article 43’s passage would approve $1.2 million to go towards the continued improvements of roads and sidewalks across York. Lessard said the town has been relying on the passage of a similar article each year to address 10 to 15 roads a year, or about six miles.

Like the seawall, the funding would be paid for with a bond, the debt service for which would bring the cost to a total of $1.5 million. The article states the first-year payment, also in fiscal year 2025, is estimated to be $133,000.

Lessard said the roads that would be repaired from funds approved May 20 will be identified in a new five-year plan in the works. He said the town scans its roads every three years and that the last report showed a score of 78 out of 100.

“I would think the 78 score puts us in the top towns of New England,” Lessard said. A new scan was conducted last fall, and he said the hope is for the pending results will show they have reached the 80s score range.

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Study for a new community center

Voters will be asked to support using $100,000 from the town’s Municipal Land and Building Fund to develop a design and location study for a future community center. Locals have wanted a community center for all ages for years, officials like former Parks and Recreation Director Robin Cogger having said it was a priority.

York Selectboard Chair Todd Frederick said his board has talked about a community center for a couple years. He said workshops on the comprehensive plan showed that there was a call for that kind of facility.

The town currently has a Center for Active Living run by the town Parks and Recreation Department, but Frederick said that older residents who use it would prefer young people to have a separate facility for activities. He said the vision for a community center would be similar to that of the community center in Kittery, which includes the Star Theatre, an indoor walking track, multi-use courts, a daycare, community kitchen and an area for seniors or older adults.

“It’s important for both young and old,” Frederick said. “To sort out where it should be placed, that’s certainly money that will be well spent.”

Expansion of the Gardens at the York Community Garden

Article 61 would appropriate $40,000 to go towards the expansion of the Gardens at the York Community Garden, as well as planning and design process for the property located at 178 Long Sands Road. The property is known as the “Town Farm” parcel, according to the article, and the goal would be to formally develop the space into a municipal community garden.

Historically, the garden has been enjoyed by locals but has not had a centralized power overseeing it. Frederick said the property was once known as the “Poor Farm” where anyone in the last century could grow vegetables.

“It evolved into a community garden, but the town of York government never really formalized it. It sort of just happened,” Frederick said. The article’s passage would allow the land to be cleared and have boundaries defined for the garden. The board, he said, would then look to adopt a community advisory group to facilitate its use and find people to staff the garden.

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School seeks funds to upgrade consumer science rooms

The York School Department is seeking $340,000 to improve the York High School family and consumer science rooms through the use of a bond, the first payment of which would be $81,875 in the fiscal year 2025. The cabinetry and counters are from 1977 and have reached the end of their useful life, according to the article’s language. The upgrades will include an improved instructional layout along with flooring, fixtures and appliances.

School Committee Chair Tom Martine said the classrooms were formerly used for “home economics” classes.

“That’s not what we call it anymore,” Martine said, who described the room as being for developing “life skills.” He said there has been a huge uptick in interest from high schoolers to learn home skills.

“It goes above and beyond what you would hopefully get at home,” Martine said.

The School Department is also seeking $300,000 to go towards new windows in the York Middle School gymnasium.

This would also be paid for with a bond, the first payment of which would be $42,000 in Fiscal Year 2025.Martine said the article goes along with the regular maintenance that’s required for any of the buildings in the school district. He said the window replacements have been delayed once already and the board wanted to revisit the proposition in an article this May.

“They’re quite old. I’m not even sure that they’re all operative,” Martine said of the windows. “The time is now.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York election 2023: Voters to decide 78 articles including $1.1M for seawall