Fri, 05/03/2013 - 1:30pm

Bane Okholm

From left, Paul Crowley, of the Municipal Building Committee; Rob Newcombe, of the Municipal Building Committee; Doris Weed, of the Municipal Building Committee; Jay Foster, chairman of the Municipal Building Committee; David Nazaroff, president of The Penobscot Company; Lincolnville Selectman Ladleah Dunn; David Barrows, Lincolnville Select Board chairman; Lincolnville Selectman Jason Trundy; Amanda Austin, project architect of 2A Architects, LLC; Lincolnville Selectman Rosey Gerry; Dorothy Lanphear of the Municipal Building Committee; and Bill Lane, site engineer of Gartley & Dorsky pose following the groundbreaking for the Lincolnville town office renovations, Monday, April 29. (Photo courtesy of David Kinney)

Jim Dunham of Lincolnville addresses the Lincolnville Select Board regarding traffic calming measures, Monday, April 29. (Photo by Bane Okholm)

LINCOLNVILLE — Minutes before a Monday, April 29, selectmen's meeting, members of several Lincolnville committees broke ground on town office renovations, which, according to Town Administrator David Kinney, are to be completed by November.

The town office has been relocated to Lincolnville Center Fire Station at 470 Camden Road until the renovations are complete.

"I'm a wishful thinker, and looking forward to Halloween at the new town office," Kinney said.

During the select board meeting, the contract for the renovation construction was unanimously awarded to The Penobscot Company, Inc., of Rockport, for $539,551.55.

Kinney said the transition to the town office's temporary site "wasn't without its challenges, but it went off pretty well."

In other business, Jim Dunham, of Tanglewood Road, presented concerns from the Lincolnville Community Alliance, Conservation Commission, and a group of local citizens regarding the high speed of vehicles passing through Lincolnville Center.

Although the posted speed limit is 25 m.p.h., Dunham, who said he is also a "Community Spoke" for the Bicycle Coalitions of Maine, said motorists often exceed that by as much as 15 m.p.h.

"Our committee right now just wants to do something that's simple and affordable that could begin to make it safer for people, keep our eye on the prize and hope that at some point we would actually have safer structures, sidewalks, and the necessary setbacks and all that, but I'm wanting to do something now," Dunham said.

Dunham presented a map indicating areas of "congregation" — including Lincolnville Center School, the Center Store, and the vicinity of Breezemere Park — and suggested the creation of a "footpath over town property that would connect to existing town [trails]" between Routes 235 and 52.

Complicating matters is that the employment of traffic calming methods such as sidewalks or speedbumps along Route 52, a state highway, requires Department of Transportation approval.

According to Lincolnville citizen Liz Hand, Lincolnville lacks a traffic ordinance that would aid in the creation of calming measures, while Kinney said existing crosswalks on Route 1 became the legal responsibility of the town following their creation.

"Before we can really proceed with anything...we would need a traffic ordinance, and then a specific ordinance that would relate to a crosswalk or stop sign," Hand said. "And that's the process where it has to be announced to the town, if anybody wants to discuss it. And then the select board decides, and then you have to go through the DOT."

Kinney said it would be "very beneficial" for the select board to make a motion that they "would like to see Lincolnville be...'alternate means of transportation'-friendly, and have the town administrator line up somebody from the DOT to start the wheel in motion."

A motion inspired by Kinney's suggestion was unanimously approved by the select board.

To contact Bane Okholm, email news@penbaypilot.com.