BREWER, Maine — City Council will consider Tuesday night whether Brewer voters should have the right to recall school committee members and whether a moratorium should be placed on locating nightclub-type businesses along the waterfront.
The council will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. at City Hall on an ordinance change that would enable residents to oust an elected member of the school board. Under the proposal, at least 30 percent of the city’s 7,300 registered voters would need to participate at the polls in order for a recall vote to be valid.
The council is expected to decide after the hearing whether to put the ordinance change before voters at the June 9 school budget approval election.
There has been a recall procedure for city councilors since the mid-1980s, but no such process has existed for school board members, according to City Clerk Pam Ryan.
The amendment push stems from recent criticism from some community members about the seven-member school committee’s decision in December to not renew the contract of Superintendent Jay McIntire.
The ordinance change also would drop the existing requirement that recall petitions be signed at the clerk’s office in City Hall, freeing up those launching recall drives to collect signatures elsewhere in the city.
In other business, the council will decide Tuesday how to fill another hole in one of its ordinances — this one regarding nightclubs, taverns and lounges.
“Someone expressed interest in starting up a nightclub in one of the buildings along our Riverwalk Trail,” Brewer Economic Development Director D’arcy Main-Boyington said in an email. “Our trail is used by many families, and our council did not want to take the risk that such a business could make the area unfriendly to families.”
City officials are responding with an emergency, 180-day moratorium to halt any new nightclubs, bars, taverns or lounges from setting up shop in the Convenience Business Zone, which stretches primarily along Main Street along the waterfront and includes homes and businesses in the area of Cianbro.
City councilors also say the city’s written definitions of these sorts of businesses aren’t adequate.
Brewer leaders also are concerned about how a nightclub or similar business might play into the city’s comprehensive plan for the waterfront area.
The plan deals in depth with the future of the Brewer Waterfront. A decade ago, Brewer crafted a master plan for its waterfront Penobscot Landing, including an entertainment district and public market, facilities for boaters, an outdoor amphitheater and recreational trails, among other things.
Much like plans Bangor had for its waterfront, the concept hasn’t seen much action in terms of business development but has seen major changes in terms of converting it into a space for public enjoyment and recreation. In 2013, the city opened a lighted, paved waterfront trail along the Penobscot River. That trail expanded in 2014.
Brewer’s comprehensive plan seeks to continue some of that waterfront development with “niche” retail, commercial, entertainment and office space in residential areas and across Main Street in the area from the Chamberlain Bridge to Harris Street. In the area of the walking trail, the city would like to see “less dense use” for the purposes of recreation, entertainment and residential spaces along a narrow band of waterfront properties.
If the moratorium is approved, it would be up to the city’s planning board to iron out definitions and rules for nightclubs, taverns and bars in that district. That would need to be done before June 2, when the city will hold a public hearing regarding whatever recommendations the board comes up with.
“We will still be allowing establishments that offer alcohol, but only if they are primarily a restaurant-focused business — like High Tide or the Sea Dog,” Main-Boyington said. “We will still allow nightclubs and bars in our General Business District, but not along our waterfront.”
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.