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Town manager says MMA pier lighting plan awaits state ruling; safety standards under review
Summary
Town Manager Shawn Blodgett reported that MMA's pier lighting plan was reviewed with the Bureau of General Services and is awaiting a ruling under M.R.S.A. Title 5, —769; the plan largely meets Castine's zoning but raises questions about working-pier illumination versus lot-line limits.
Town Manager Shawn Blodgett told the Selectboard that a June 25 meeting with the Maine Bureau of General Services (BGS), MMA representatives and engineers reviewed MMA's pier lighting plan and that the BGS will issue a ruling under M.R.S.A. Title 5, subsection 1769.
Blodgett said the plan as submitted "comports with Castine Zoning," showing less than 0.3 foot-candles at lot lines, but that some aspects of the design exceed Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance for working piers, which recommends 3 to 5 foot-candles. He said those differences and ambiguous language about whether the OSHA guidance should be interpreted as an average or a point value prompted questions at the June 25 meeting.
Blodgett said he expected an official communication with a BGS ruling by the following Friday and that MMA intends to walk through the lighting plan with the town at the Town and Gown meeting on July 8.
Why it matters: lighting design involves tradeoffs between worker safety, night-time navigation and minimizing light spill onto neighboring properties. Blodgett said the town zoning standard addresses lot-line illumination; the BGS ruling will clarify whether the MMA plan requires modification to comply with state adjudication of the statute.
Next steps: the Selectboard will hear the MMA walk-through at the July 8 Town and Gown meeting and review any BGS guidance once it is issued.
