WILTON – The Maine Municipal Association has advised town officials that variances for nonconforming structures within a setback area must be issued by the Appeals Board.

Code Enforcement Officer Brenda Medcoff presented the Planning Board with a letter Thursday from Maine Municipal Association concerning nonconforming buildings within the shoreland zone.

Medcoff agreed to get an opinion from MMA after a controversy over a permit the board granted last month for Urban West to build a garage on Route 2 about 50 feet from an intermittent stream.

Planner Keith Swett opposed the move.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection classified a stream near the property as “intermittent.” Under state regulations a structure can not be built less than 75 feet from an intermittent stream unless it is grandfathered or the property owner receives a variance from the town Appeals Board.

Swett said he believed that when the board granted the permit they granted a variance, because the original building had already been removed and was not grandfathered.

But Medcoff said last month that she thought the Planning Board could grant a permit for such a structure under the town’s ordinance.

West did receive a permit-by-rule that states he can build the garage “to the greatest practical extent,” but it does not state that the garage could be built closer to the stream than 75 feet.

Medcoff said it was up to the Planning Board to determine what that meant since the permit did not specify where the garage could be built.

In his letter to Medcoff, MMA Senior Attorney James Katsiaficas said the only way a person can enlarge or expand such a nonconforming structure within a setback would be by a variance issued by the town’s Board of Appeals.

Planners said they intend to keep this in mind in the future.

In other business, resident Noel Brown requested information about changing the hours of operation for his used auto sales business on Route 2. Brown also operates an auto body shop at the site.

Brown said that while a use permit he obtained in 1995 states his hours of operation to be 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday, he sometimes receives vehicles early in the morning and has recently been doing work earlier in the morning to enable him to close up earlier at night due to the summer heat.

Brown said a neighbor has called the police several times to report noise and lights shining toward their home. He said other neighbors support his business however.

Medcoff agreed to notify abutters of Brown’s plans and the issue will be discussed at the next meeting in two weeks, along with any comments from neighbors.

Planners agreed to put off discussion of the possibility of increasing Medcoff’s hours, ordinance changes for setback requirements, and the impact the zoning ordinance will have on the newly enacted subdivision ordinance.