Government

Public hearing on Brickyard Hollow liquor license; GNG Rec, Town Meeting on Board’s March 20 agenda

A public hearing on Brickyard Hollow Brewing Company’s on-premises liquor license application and review of the draft warrant for Town Meeting and discussion of an agreement on the town’s collaboration with Gray on recreation programs are among items on the Select Board’s March 20 agenda.

Also on the agenda: composting supplies, the status of ‘roads’ that may be more like long driveways rather public ways, and information about the Cemetery Association.

The meeting begins at 7 pm in the Meetinghouse and will be broadcast on local cable and live-streamed on Castus at this link

Brickyard Hollow Brewing liquor license.  The Select Board will hold a public hearing regarding an on-premises liquor license for Brickyard Hollow Brewing Company.  Brickyard Hollow, based in Yarmouth, is buying Nu Brewery at 437 Lewiston Road and has applied for a license to serve beer, wine and spirits onsite, both indoors and out.  The board will consider the application later in the meeting.  Find Brickyard Hollow’s application pp. 20-35 of the agenda packet at this link.

Gray-New Gloucester Recreation MOU.  The board will return to a proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Gray that details the towns’ collaboration on recreation programs.  The board requested input from the Parks and Recreation Committee and now has the committee’s detailed response endorsing the MOU as written and responding to board members’ concerns.  Find the draft MOU and the committee’s letter at pp. 10-19.

ERC sale of composting supplies? The Environmental Resources Committee would like to sell composting supplies to the community–bins, kitchen pails, tools and more–at prices that encourage backyard composting. The board will turn the matter over. See a sample sale flyer at p.64.

Status of roads.  The board will discuss temporary road closures and plowing and maintenance of ‘roads’ that may be long driveways rather than public ways.  A memorandum from Public Works Director Ted Shane identifies several roads (or road segments) that he believes “should be given back to the homeowner” to maintain because they lack three houses and adequate turnaround, which Shane believes are statutory requirements.  Mercier Drive, Dave Snow Road, Morgan Hill Farm, Underpass Road, and the gravel portions of Swamp Road and Tobey Road.  Find Shane’s memo at p. 36.

Town Meeting matters.  Town Meeting will take place Monday, May 1, and the board is gearing up.  They’ll review the proposed warrant for town meeting and may rearrange items or revise their budget recommendations.  Find the proposed warrant for the meeting, including budget articles, at pp. 40-54.  The board will also discuss how to improve attendance at town meeting.    

Town Meeting participants will be considering a capital request from the Cemetery Association for a multiyear expansion of three cemeteries.  At the March 20 meeting, the board plans to discuss the relationship between the Town and the Cemetery Association, as the Cemetery Association’s request for $160,000 for the expansion prompted many questions from Budget Committee members, members of the Select Board and residents about the Cemetery Association’s legal status, operations, finances and relationship to the Town.   

For the full agenda and related documents, including an update from Town Manager Bill Kerbin, click here. Public comments can be submitted by email before 10 am on Monday, March 20, to townmanager@newgloucester.com and smyers@newgloucester.com. If you want your comment read aloud, please indicate that in the subject line.

— Joanne Cole