PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 62 Portland, ME ECRWSS www.capecourier.com The ape An Independent Not-for-Profi t Newspaper Volume 21 Number 16 NovemberC 1, 2008 Serving Cape Elizabeth Since 1988 Regional champs! Smoking ban at park is narrowly defeated; public hearing set on new intersection plans By Bob Dodd dation. The Oct. 15 meeting of the Town Coun- Despite the FWAC recommendation, cil began with Councilor Mary Ann Lynch’s Councilors Lynch, Dill and Lennon wanted formal resignation announcement. It ended to see the smoking ban imposed. They pro- with the election of Councilor Jim Rowe to posed that the ban be restricted to certain ar- serve as chair until the new council is sworn eas of the park, such as the lighthouse area, in Dec. 8. the playground and the playing fi elds. In between, the council tackled sewer and Councilors Rowe, Paul McKenney and other rate increases. They referred a pro- David Backer sided with the FWAC’s rea- posed ordinance change permitting bed and soning. breakfasts to the Ordinance Committee. Councilor Rowe urged that signs discour- They also scheduled a Nov. 10 public aging smoking be placed in the problem hearings on a proposed traffi c light for the areas. McGovern said that he would talk to town center intersection and on General As- the public works department and the FWAC sistance Appendices. about placing “Thank You For Not Smok- But a proposal to ban smoking at Fort Wil- ing” signs in key spots. Photo by Beth Rand liams Park was the only action that involved Nov. 10 public hearing set on town Running their way to victory on Oct. 10 at the Western Maine Conference cross-country a split vote. The proposal was defeated by a center traffi c light championship at Falmouth—a victory they repeated on Oct. 25 in the regional champion- 3-3 vote. The council scheduled a second public ship at Twin Brook in Cumberland—are Cape girls’ cross-country team members, left to The ban was proposed despite a unani- hearing on the Maine Department of Trans- right, Kelsey Barton, Lindsay Rand, Rachel Nichols, Hannah Doss, Paige Kozlowski, Marita mous recommendation by the Fort Williams portation’s proposal for the redesign of the Stressenger, Catherine Tierney and Emily Attwood. Not pictured are Caitlin Pomeroy, Brit- Advisory Commission that the ban not be intersection of Scott Dyer Road, Shore Road tany Gregory, Marisa Turesky, Olivia Earnshaw and Emma Kast. The team will run in the adopted. The FWAC instead recommended state championship at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast on Nov. 1. To read about the that smoking be dealt with as a littering is- —see TOWN COUNCIL, page 30 boys’ cross-country team, please see page 12. sue. They advised that the council reinforce Debra Lane returns School Board approves modifi ed version of the current “carry in, carry out” litter policy at the park, with additional signage in areas to town clerk position; superintendent’s energy-savings proposal where discarded cigarette butts are a prob- lem. Ruthie Noble resigns By Wendy Keeler The FWAC said if the signage did not By Elizabeth Brogan Students and staff at Cape schools should Superintendent Alan Hawkins proposed work they would prefer looking at other op- In the middle of a busy election season, stock up on warm clothes before Nov. 5, their in September, with small changes. Rather tions before going the ordinance route. Debra Lane has taken on the job of Cape fi rst day back after daylight savings ends than enforce a 65-degree daytime high in Town Manager Mike McGovern ex- Elizabeth Town Clerk once again, a posi- Nov. 2. That’s when the district’s new ener- classrooms, as had been recommended, the plained that the FWAC had made its recom- tion she previously held from 1986 through gy-saving measures, which include keeping board voted to set thermostats at 67 degrees mendation based on a kind of “libertarian 2003. Lane replaces Ruthie Noble, who held rooms at a 67-degree high by day and as low and make adjustments up or down based on view” that government should not monitor the position for just over a year. as 55 at night, will go into effect. comfort levels in the schools. Hawkins and private behavior, especially in an outdoor Noble submitted her resignation effective “We’re not going to let anyone shiver MacVane will meet with board members setting. He added that the commission mem- Oct. 12, saying she wished “to pursue other in the classroom. Our intention is to keep when needed to tweak the policy. bers also felt the ordinance would be very interests,” according to Town Manager Mike energy costs down,” Town Facilities Man- Because of locked-in fuel prices, the dis- diffi cult to enforce. McGovern. ager Ernie MacVane said on Oct. 24. “What trict is expected to be $28,000 over budget At their Sept. 8 meeting, councilors had In Cape Elizabeth, the town clerk also we’re encouraging people to do is dress for in energy costs this fi scal year. But the new voted on a set of changes to the Miscella- serves as registrar of voters and general as- the weather. Bring a sweater.” measures could help reduce that fi gure, neous Offenses Ordinance. All changes were sistance administrator. Lane will addition- The School Board on Oct. 14 unanimous- MacVane said. approved except for the smoking ban, which ally continue her duties as assistant town ly approved energy recommendations that —see SCHOOL ENERGY, page 30 they sent to the FWAC for their recommen- —see LANE, page 30 Planning Board sends business district rewrite to Town Council Maine’s highest court By Wendy Derzawiec serve alcohol. Some speakers said they saw allow expansion of businesses in the BA dis- For better or for worse, the Planning the recommendations as an unwanted effort trict that are currently within the buffer, pro- sides with Mowles Board on Oct. 21 voted to send its draft rec- to expand the business district, at the expense vided they are on town water and sewer. ommendation for a newly defi ned Business of neighboring residential areas. One speaker, Shore Acres resident An- By Elizabeth Brogan A district to the Town Council. “It’s not a perfect set of recommenda- drew Ingalls, who purchased the offi ce/resi- On Oct. 21, the Maine Supreme Judicial The recommendation consists of several tions,” said Planning Board member Peter dential building at Route 77 and Davis Point Court struck down a state election statute as pages of text amendments and two new Hatem. But after weeks of workshops and Lane, said he favored the sewer requirement a violation of “core political speech” pro- maps of the BA district, located in two areas discussion and public input, Hatem said it and would like to see expanded residential tected by the First Amendment. The statute of Cape Elizabeth — one along Shore Road, was time to move forward. “At this stage of uses in the BA zone. Two other property was challenged by former Cape Elizabeth and the other along Route 77 approximately the process it might be best to let the Town owners, Mary Page, who owns Rudy’s of the town councilor and state legislative candi- between Davis Point Lane and Kettle Cove Council have the package as we see it,” Cape on Route 77, and Lee Wilson of Tara date, Mike Mowles, who received an ethical Road. Hatem said. LLC, owner of 553 Shore Road, favored the rebuke under the law on the day before his After hearing 30 speakers during two The BA district rewrite is one of the rec- amendments. One other speaker said he fa- Republican primary loss in 2006. hours of public comment on the draft, Plan- ommendations of the comprehensive plan vored amendments supporting Rudy’s. Background ning Board members started to question adopted by the Town Council one year ago. The vast majority of speakers, however, In 2004, Mowles ran for election as the some of the provisions they were recom- The rewrite was given top priority because were displeased with the draft regulations. Republican candidate for House District 121. mending to make the BA district a neighbor- without adjustments to current wetland set- “These proposed amendments do not During that campaign, Mowles obtained hood business district. Most speakers at the backs, businesses in the Route 77 district properly address the respect, nor the integ- endorsements from United States Senators Oct. 21 hearing said they opposed adding cannot expand. rity, of the surrounding residential neighbor- Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. a new property to the Shore Road business One of the recommendations of the Plan- hoods,” said Ocean House Road resident Joe In 2006, Mowles ran again for the same district; and many others objected to restau- ning Board is to allow a reduction of the crit- Foley, who lives next to the BA district op- seat, and was opposed by Jennifer Duddy in rants being allowed to stay open until 10 p.m. ical wetland buffer in the BA district from the Republican primary election. weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends, and to 250 feet to 100 feet. A reduced buffer would —see PLANNING BOARD, page 30 —see MOWLES, page 30 Page 2 • The Cape Courier • November 1, 2008 LETTERS The Cape Courier Broad Cove resident Etiquette for saluting Book & Bake Sale P.O. Box 6242 responds; suggests of fl ag has changed raises over $11,500 Cape Elizabeth Maine 04107 Telephone: 207-767-5023 ‘thanking ... neighbors There has been a recent change address- for library Online: www.capecourier.com for caring’ ing the saluting of the fl ag for veterans and The library would like to thank all the retired military personnel.