NORWAY – Other than selectmen and the town manager, only two Norway residents attended a special town meeting and public hearings Thursday night.

Norway Police Sgt. Rob Federico was there. He had to be to explain the parking ordinance amendment section of the public hearing.

The other Norway resident was Jack Shaner, owner of Shaner’s Family Restaurant.

These residents were instrumental in increasing building fees and establishing a fund to pay for wells damaged by road salt in a two-article special town meeting.

They then approved a technology park grant and amended the parking ordinance.

The building permit fees were raised as requested by Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey VanDecker.

Under the new code, the fee would change from $1 per $1,000 of assessed value to 10 cents per square foot of living space on new construction and 5 cents per square foot for all other space.

There had been no permit required for renovation. Now, renovations of $20,000 will be a minimum permit fee of $20. An additional $1 per $1,000 will be charged for permits over $20,000.

The amendment instructs selectmen to review and set fees annually.

Also approved was the article to establish a fund of $15,000 from unappropriated surplus to replace wells damaged by chemicals the town uses to remove ice and snow from roadways.

There was a claim from a Greenwood Road resident that selectmen approved recently. The cost is unknown as the well diggers charge by the foot and the well is not completed yet.

In the public hearing, selectmen approved Western Maine Development’s pursuit of a $3.03 million grant to build the infrastructure of the technology park.

The grant from the federal Economic Development Agency would have to be applied for under the town of Norway.

WMD is a subsidiary of the Oxford Hills Growth Council.

The infrastructure grant would be used to pay for sewer, water, electricity and roads in the technology park.

Marcy Boughter, development manager for WMD, said the grant would not be a financial liability to the town.

Town Manager David Holt noted that the town would have some small costs in administering the grant and suggested that the six towns committed to the project might share those costs.

Boughter said WMD would be submitting a pre-application next week and if approved by the EDA, it would then submit the formal application.

Proposed amendments to the parking ordinances controlling municipal parking lots, parking bans, emergency towing, owner responsibility, violations and penalties, prosecution and enforcement as well as a definition of habitual offenders and penalties they face were approved by selectmen.

Questions concerning length of time for parking on Main Street were tabled until selectmen could receive more input from Main Street merchants.

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