By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Four proposed ordinances will face Naples voters during the November election.

The majority of members on the Naples Select Board determined that was the best avenue for the ordinances and for the people voting on them: The silent ballot on Nov. 5 instead of Special Town Meeting on Sept. 5.

On Monday, the board voted, 3-1, to put the four proposed ordinances in referendum form. Selectman Kevin Rogers opposed, stating he would prefer the ordinances to be passed two months sooner.

Later in the evening, the board voted, 4-0, to approve the ballot, which also included the question of approving a $7.2 million bond for the recreation center.

On Monday evening, the board discussed the ordinances and also how to put those before the citizens of Naples.

The four ordinances cover: design standards, manufactured homes, property maintenance and cemetery lot conveyance. 

Vice-chair Colin Brackett expressed his opinion, saying his biggest reason for waiting until November is to give residents a longer time to digest the ordinances.

“I am not in favor of putting all these to town meeting. We’ve been voting on ordinance changes at the ballot for the past four years or so,” Brackett said.

“If Jim Grattelo was here, he would be jumping up and down because we didn’t send out a mailer about this special town meeting. Clearly, if you look on Facebook, there were notifications of the community center workshop,” but no real communication about the ordinances and the upcoming special town meeting, he said.

“I think it is a disservice to residents to try to do it before November,” Brackett concluded.

Rogers disagreed, claiming the ordinances should be put into effect as soon as possible.

“Give people in town more time,” Brackett said.

He mentioned that someone who uses the town website and sits on committees had difficulty finding the ordinances Online.

During the meeting, board members also discussed the content of the ordinances, which the Naples Ordinance Review Committee (ORC) has spent about three months preparing.

Essentially, the board voted to put each ordinance to the voters or approved those ordinances as ballot measures.

When the floor was open, Selectman Stephen LaPointe spoke.

“New design standards. I am going to vote to approve and move them forward. But I do have a big hiccup. Those design standards are for commercial property,” he said. “Within those standards, there has been a change to the state statutes that says we have to allow mobile homes. Even though they are now calling manufactured homes. There is nothing we can do about it. We can’t stop it. We can’t prevent it. But, it just kind of upsets me a little bit that we have to allow it. Whether it will happen — who knows? My grandmother’s mobile home [could be] in the downtown Causeway District.”

“No more boat storage. No more storage units. But there is a possibility of mobile homes,” he said.

Another one that was discussed is the Proposed Property Maintenance Ordinance.

Selectman Bill Adams commented it was already a state ordinance that the town is copying.

Brackett asked about recouping funds that the town might use to clean up properties when land-owners cannot afford it.

Naples Town Manager Jason Rogers responded.

“It is not an easy recoupment path. If we were going to recoup funds for cleaning up someone’s property, we would have to take someone to court to authorize a judge to put a lien on the property . . . ” he said.

Brackett said his takeaway from listening to ORC meeting is that the lien process outlined by the state is not a worthwhile venture.   

“It would be a costly venture,” Town Manager Rogers said. “For example, if the town paid $1500 to clean up someone’s property that was deemed a health hazard, legal fees would be north of $4,000 just to draft paperwork to bring it to court.”

Quite often, the town must wait until a sale occurred to be reimbursed, he said.

“It doesn’t get after what the select board wanted was to address: places in town that are falling apart,” Brackett said.

LaPointe commented. 

“The state statutes have been there forever. For some reason, maybe because there haven’t been any complaints, the town hasn’t moved forward with anything. There are a half-dozen properties maybe in the whole town of Naples that might need it,” he said.

Brackett posed a question.

“If this is already a state statue, and we have always been able to do it, why haven’t we.  What triggers us to move forward on some of these places,” Brackett asked.

Jason Rogers answered, “It’s a complaint.”

“If it is put on as town ordinance, it is a deterrent. The town has said, ‘this is now a priority for the town,’” he said.

The board voted, 3-1, to put the Property Maintenance Ordinance before voters. Adams opposed.

The board voted, 4-0, to put before Naples citizens a change to the Cemetery Ordinance.

If passed, the proposed amendment to the Cemetery Ordinance would give the town manager authority to do lot transfers, rather than having it come before the select board each time.