In what has been called a parking lot for the entire community, the Twin Villages will go in together for the next municipal parking lot meeting.

The Newcastle Board of Selectmen agreed Monday, Jan. 12 to co-sponsor a community discussion regarding the future of the municipal parking lot in downtown Damariscotta.

The Feb. 5 meeting, which will begin at 5:15 p.m. at the Great Salt Bay School, will go over the plans for the municipal parking lot.

“This is an opportunity to share, since we share so much already,” Damariscotta Selectmen’s Chairman Ronn Orenstein said.

Eventually, the Newcastle board agreed to cosponsor the event, but first Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus spoke with the board about the lot's colorful history, beginning with its origin story.

The lot didn't exist prior to the creation of Route 1, when the fill from the road project was used to create the space. Lutkus said the agreement was that if the lot was ever used for anything besides a public parking lot, then the deeds would revert back to the original owners.

“Prior to the 1960s, that area was all water,” Lutkus said. “The agreement was that if it was used for parking, then (the lot) would be owned by the town. But if it was ever used for anything else, the deeds would have to go back to the owners.”

The ball didn't get fully rolling until the public came out against pay-for-parking at the lot in November 2013, Lutkus said.

“It certainly brought out a crowd,” he said. “But through our moderator, we were able to keep the conversation much more positive than we could have expected. From those meetings, the Waterfront (Project) Committee was formed.”

Since its inception, the committee has weighed options and tried to establish not only a new design that will meet safety concerns, but a design that will capture the region's past as a hub for boatbuilders, Lutkus said.

Superintendent of Roads Steve Reynolds said the designs, which include a tall ship replica as part of the boardwalk, could make the lot an attraction.

“Paying homage is huge for us,” he said. “Whether it's storyboards or the clipper ship, there are a lot of options for us to be able to engage visitors.”

But, before the cosmetic plans can be put in place, the lot will need to undergo a deep reconstruction to prevent the structural damage it has incurred in the past few years.

The two plans, which Lutkus preemptively called 1A and 1B, are very similar. The biggest difference is that while the first plan costs approximately $1 million and includes rebuilding the parking lot, it doesn't include all the flood-prevention measures of plan 1B.

The second plan would cost approximately $2 million, but could eventually save the taxpayers money, Lutkus said.

“(The second plan) would include all the flood protection that would be required to take us out of the 1 percent flood zone,” he said. “The benefit there is, not only would it offer us flood protection, but it would lower our insurance rates, and the insurance rates for the downtown businesses.”

The second plan would raise the perimeter of the parking lot to above 12 feet, Reynolds said. Currently, the lowest point of the lot is around 8 feet above sea level; the improvements would raise that level to try to mitigate potential flood damage.

While the first plan doesn't have all the flood resiliency measures of the second plan, it still wouldn't leave the downtown area unprotected. The first plan would use the so-called duck-billed covers, which would allow water to flow from the lot, but not up, in case of a storm, Reynolds said.

Because of the nature of the resiliency project, there could be federal funds available, Lutkus said.