NEWRY — Town meeting voters next month will consider new ordinances on road entrances and parking, and changes to fire suppression and Planning Board ordinances.
The Road Entrance Ordinance establishes standards for temporary and permanent roads and driveways entering onto town rights of way. The Parking Ordinance regulates parking on certain public ways.
The road entrance law limits the number of entrances onto town rights of way to one per lot. With lots that have frontage on two or more town rights of way, the entrance and exit serving that lot must be on the lesser traveled way as deemed by the town. Additional entrances can be allowed pending town approval “upon proof that no alternative method is viable and no unsafe or unhealthy situation will be created.”
The proposal also allows the code enforcement officer to determine entrance standards and to enforce the law with selectmen approval.
The Parking Ordinance bans parking where signs prohibit it and leaving a vehicle unattended within a 15-foot radius of any area marked by the Newry Volunteer Fire Department. It exempts emergency vehicles; utilities maintenance, construction, repair or installation vehicles; and any state or municipal agency or utility company.
Violators will have their vehicle towed and impounded and must pay fees and municipal penalties.
Town Administrator Loretta Powers said Wednesday that a few people attended Tuesday night’s public hearing on the ordinances and only had a concern with the parking law.
“They wanted to know how we would enforce it,” she said.
The ordinance says it will be enforced by any officer with police powers.
The Planning Board law changes include reducing membership from seven to five, and with two alternates instead of one. It also details how to handle vacancies, reduces the quorum from five to three members, delegates responsibility to selectmen to prepare and maintain a Comprehensive Plan, and states how the ordinance can be amended.
The fire suppression law removes unnecessary language. New language defines dry hydrants and addresses fire hydrants, limiting the pad area to no greater than a 2 percent slope, requiring that hydrants be primed, and painted with red fluorescent paint.
The ordinances will be voted on at the annual town meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at Bear River Grange hall.
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