Ogunquit News
Ogunquit voters elect incumbent, say no to proposed animal restrictions and yes to restricting hotels
By Melissa Wood
OGUNQUIT - On Saturday, April 7, Ogunquit voters reelected Vice Chairman John Abbott for a three-year term to the Board of Selectmen, after he defeated challenger Herbert Hoffman by getting 306 votes to Hoffman's tally of 214.Henry Hokans, another challenger who dropped out of the race and endorsed Hoffman but whose name remained on the ballot, gathered 21 votes.
In previous interviews, Abbott, who has served as the board's vice chairman for the past year, asked that he be given a chance to finish the job he started on the board while Hoffman, who is the current chair of the Charter Review Commission, said that he hoped to bring an independent, clear view to the board to help it address the number of significant issues facing the town.
Voters also strongly showed their approval for Article 16, which asked the town to amend the zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan "to ensure that there shall be no additional expansion or development of habitable transient accommodations by hotels or motels" with a more than 2-1 margin with 370 in favor and 176 against.
By almost the same 2-1 margin, voters defeated Article 17, which would have amended the Animal Control Ordinance to define the Ogunquit Beach area, where dogs are prohibited from April 1 to Sept. 30, to include all beach parking lots, including Main, Moody and Footbridge beaches.
Although Kevin O'Neill, supervisor of Visitor Services, said the intention of the article was to make it more consistent with the definitions in the conservation ordinance, the proposal sparked protest among residents, who spoke up against it at both the public hearing for the warrant articles and by writing letters to the paper.
"All I want is to make them consistent," said O'Neill in an interview prior to the election.
While the changes to Animal Control Ordinance failed, voters did approve all other proposed changes to the Ogunquit Zoning Ordinance, including ones that had been part of the bundled article last November that would make the ordinance consistent with the town's Comprehensive Plan.
Voters also approved a request to allow the town to spend $135,000 for erosion repairs on Marginal Way, and said yes to spending $95,000 for the shim and overlay to the Main Beach parking lot and remodeling the Main Beach restrooms for $55,000, but said no to spending $13,000 for lighting at Perkins Cove.
Voters also narrowly defeated spending $75,000 to lease a new ladder truck for the Ogunquit Fire Department and $30,000 for a new police cruiser by close votes of 272 to 258 and 269 to 262, respectively.
Voters also said no to Article 54, which would have allowed the town to increase the property tax levy limit established by state law in case the municipal budget approved for the fiscal year resulted in a tax commitment that exceeded the property tax limit.
On Saturday, 557 voters took part in the election.
Full Ogunquit election results can be found online on the town's website at www.townofogunquit.org.
