NORWAY — A Main Street resident must wait until the annual town meeting in June before selectmen will consider extending his street vendor license from a one to a three-day weekend.

The Board of Selectmen issued a hawker’s and peddler’s license in July to James Howard of 268 Main St. to sell his yard sale items, mostly new items, in the front yard of his downtown apartment building. But Thursday night, he returned to the board to ask that the license be extended to include Saturday and Sundays until Memorial Day when he takes his yard sale to a flea market for the summer. After Labor Day, he requested the license be returned to the three day status.

But objections from David Dow, who owns the building Dow’s law firm is in, along with the need to get a newly-written street vendors ordinance enacted by the annual town meeting in June has curtailed the board’s decision to extend the hours beyond Friday.

The proposed ordinance defines what a street vendor is and restrictions that would be placed on them such as not operating within 65 feet of any fixed-based retail establishment offering the same or similar goods. Street vendors must be licensed and carry insurance.

Police Chief Rob Federico mostly wrote the ordinance. Howard said he had some input into it.

“I’m just trying to make a living,” said Howard as he stood outside his apartment Friday afternoon on the first day he opened his yard sale for the season.

Norway established a hawkers and peddlers license in 1936 with a $50 fee in order to dissuade people “from away” from setting up business on the streets and taking away from local businesses. Selectmen said they don’t recall the last time someone requested a license.

Dow, a former Norway Planning Board member, said he did not object to the vending operation but because it is a business requesting a change in use, it should have gone through the Planning Board process for approval.

Town Manager David Holt said the Planning Board turned the matter back to the Board of Selectmen saying it was not within their jurisdiction to approve it or not.

Howard has about 10 tables and sells almost exclusively new items ranging from cowboy hats to sunglasses and snake ashtrays. The tables are set up in front of the apartment house with permission of the landlord.

Howard said Friday that he does not try to compete with adjacent businesses such as the Village Gift Shop and a thrift store that are located across the street, but his business on the street does attract a wide range of people including tourists who also continue to walk down the street to view other shops.

“It can only be good for other stores,” he said.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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