The Hallowell City Council plans to continue discussing on Monday a proposal to relocate the historic Dummer House to make way for a municipal parking lot.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
According to the agreement, Linda Bean, the granddaughter of L.L. Bean’s founder and the owner of the Dummer House and adjacent land bordered by Second and Central streets, has agreed to move the historic house and sell the remaining property to Hallowell. Bean and the city have agreed on a $147,000 price for the remaining parcels of land.
Bean will continue to own the house when it moves to its new location — on the corner of Second and Central streets — and Preservation Timber Framing in Berwick will handle the move and rehabilitation of the historic building.
City Manager Nate Rudy said the city hoped to have the house moved and the gravel parking lot built by April, when the Department of Transportation begins a six-month reconstruction of a 2,000-foot stretch of Water Street in Hallowell’s busy downtown.
The current plan is for the final proposal to go before the Planning Board on March 21 and to the council in April. Rudy said the new municipal parking lot — which would be built on the Dummer House’s footprint — would be completed by Old Hallowell Day in mid-July.
Rudy said the city will be closing Dummers Lane as a public right of way, and the space will be converted into an outdoor space by Liberal Cup owner Geoff Houghton, who owns the buildings on both sides of the narrow alley.
Rudy also will present the council with a plan for a parking shuttle that would operate throughout the Water Street construction period. Rudy said he estimated it would cost around $60,000 to purchase and rehabilitate a passenger van and hire two seasonal employees to drive it.
The shuttle would take people from the PUC lot and railroad parking areas down to downtown. Rudy said he will be speaking with Stevens Commons developer Matt Morrill about allowing additional parking on the 54-acre campus on Winthrop Street, as well.
In other business, the council will consider a 180-day extension of the current recreational and retail marijuana moratorium; review an easement document as written by the Kennebec Land Trust related to land at Stevens Commons; hear the second reading of an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance, which would limit the decibel level of music and other noise throughout the city’s downtown; discuss concerns about sidewalk snow removal in downtown and in-town residential districts; and consider approving funding to fix a rotted sill and rotted beam at the Second Street fire station.
Jason Pafundi — 621-5663
Twitter: @jasonpafundiKJ
Send questions/comments to the editors.
