By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Almost 100 residents weighed in on five ordinances, two moratoriums and a couple of financial issues in a matter of 30 minutes.

Last Thursday, 79 voting residents showed up at the Naples Town Hall and picked up a pink voting card. It was probably the biggest turnout for a Special Town Meeting.

“If you said it was the best turnout for a special town meeting, that would be factual,” Chairman Jim Grattelo said.

“It was an impressive turnout for a meeting in the middle of February, on a night when it was only 16 degrees,” Grattelo said, adding, “Ever since we started sending out the postcards to remind people about town meetings,” the attendance has improved.

Everything was approved.

The two financial items include (Warrant Article 3) a community center feasibility study for $25,000, and (Warrant Article 4) the purchase of an ambulance for $242,000. Both expenses will use existing funds and do not impact the mil rate.

The two moratoriums were briefly discussed, and then passed by a great margin.

Naples resident Priscilla Kyle asked what was meant by “adult-use establishments.”

Naples Town Manager John Hawley said without a moratorium, “it left the window wide open for a number of adult entertainment businesses. [This moratorium] puts a temporary ban on these types of businesses, where these could exist,” he said.

Another resident got up and asked, “Are, you gonna do away with the bar rooms? I don’t see many kids there.”

“No,” Hawley said , adding that an adult bookstore is one type of business and that someone had called the town office asking about opening one on the Causeway.

Kyle said she didn’t want an adult bookstore on the Causeway.

The residents supported this moratorium as well as another moratorium designed to stop the reduction of commercial and retail space in the Village district.

Warrant Article 9, the Land Use Ordinance, was explained by Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Renee Carter. 

“We made a couple of changes to definitions. This is where we are adding the Causeway District,” which is from Freedom Café to G.C. Cramer Jeweler’s property, Carter said.

She said creating the Causeway District is the first step in a larger project to allow more uses in the Shoreland Zone on the Causeway. 

“It is a big project. It is going to take us a while. This is the first step to get there,” Carter said.

This summer, the town will be crafting a more relaxed Shoreland Zone Ordinance by working with private consultant Mike Morse, who spent decades with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and also with the DEP. The revamped ordinance would allow more uses based on smaller beachfront requirements.

When Warrant Article 10, the Special Amusement Ordinance, was on the floor for discussion, a local business owner asked about why the fee schedule was not included.

“We didn’t want to put a fee schedule in the ordinance,” Ordinance Review Committee (ORC) Chairman Skip Meeker said.

Grattelo elaborated. “The advice from attorneys was to NOT to put the fees in the ordinance, because if we did then every time we changed the fees, we would have  to change the ordinance,” he said.

The business owner said that when the fee was included as part of the ordinance, the residents have some control because town meeting is required for the passage of ordinances. Having the fee schedule set by the selectmen —  “that takes it out of our hands,” the business owner said. 

Grattelo responded. “For you to have a comfort level, there is no intent from the selectboard to dramatically change the fee schedule,” Grattelo promised.

The residents also passed a revised Street Vendor Ordinance, which would allow local businesses to invite a mobile vendor to their property for a short time, for special offerings like a customer appreciation event.

According to Carter, “The mobile vendor (ordinance) is because we have people…I don’t want to name names, but Moose Landing Marina wanted to have a mobile vendor come on the weekend. And our street vendor ordinance didn’t allow for people to do that.”

The revision would allow people to bring a mobile vendor on site

If the event with the mobile vendor would likely draw a crowd of more than 200 people, it would be addressed in the Outdoor Entertainment Ordinance, and if the mobile vendor serves liquor it would require a Special Amusement permit, Carter said.

The changes make the Street Vendor Ordinance, more user-friendly, Carter said.