Alna selectmen are addressing potential legal issues over some town rules. The board voted 2-0 over Zoom Wednesday night, July 7 to give out no permits for accessory apartments or for two homes on a lot until the town passes a “fair and enforceable” amendment to the building code. Third Selectman Charles Culbertson and Planning Board Chair Jim Amaral said Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission will work with the planning board and townspeople to draft code changes for the town attorney to review before residents vote on them.

Culbertson said according to town attorney David Kallin, it appears voters meant to preserve Alna’s rural character by requiring at least two acres for a new home, but “the ordinance doesn’t actually require that single lots can have no more than one (home).” So people could argue their accessory apartment is instead “a second, principal dwelling unit that’s allowed under the current ordinance,” Culbertson said.

“So this puts the town in a strange and precarious situation ... There’s a quagmire there that we’re really trying to deal with,” he said.

LCRPC’s work will cost the town nothing, Culbertson said. The commission will tap grant funds for it, he said. Workshops will gather public input and, before town meeting, the planning board will hold a public hearing on any proposed amendments, he said.

Jeff Philbrick and other residents praised the plan. Philbrick said it sounds very thorough, including having LCRPC as an “external third party.”

“I think this is a perfect way to do it,” Brett Donham said. “It’s just the right mix of local input (and) technical experience and expertise ... so thank you.”

Also July 7, Donham suggested a trash barrel for Head Tide Dam because, he said, the site is popular and he is finding trash. The day of the meeting, he picked up a liquor bottle, soda cans and other items. Donham and Culbertson praised the work they said residents Chris Kenoyer and Ed Pentaleri have done on some cabling there.

Answering a question from Ralph Hilton, Culbertson said the board will have more information soon about Cross Road’s issues; and Culbertson invited people to take produce from the community garden.