Anyone who walks into the soon-to-open adult-only coffee shop in Vassalboro will see that something is missing. And it’s not just the upper portion of the waitresses’ clothing.
The topless coffee shop proposal was approved this week by the town’s planning board, despite opposition expressed by most of the 50 residents who attended the meeting. That action revealed a land use ordinance that was missing an important provision. Planners in Vassalboro said they were limited in their review of the application to the standards set out in the land use ordinance. Those standards cover matters such as bathrooms, septic systems, parking and fire safety. What the waitresses wear — or don’t wear — is not covered in the ordinance.
And that may be more of an eye-opener than the topless waitresses or the coffee.
To be fair, it’s understandable that the town did not anticipate an application for a topless coffee shop. But enough Maine towns have faced plans for adult bookstores, topless bars and other such endeavors.
Tom Miragliuolo, a land use expert with the Maine State Planning Office, said model or sample ordinances covering adult businesses are available for small towns to incorporate into their own, customized ordinances. Doing so requires some work. A committee probably would be created and public comment sought before a draft was ready to present to the town for approval. Review by a lawyer is also advisable, which means the town will incur some expense.
The discussion phase of the process is important. Some towns might welcome topless coffee shops, others might ban them outright, and still others might allow them in certain parts of town, operating under certain conditions.
Such questions should be dealt with while they are still hypothetical. While time, the hard work of volunteer town officials and maybe an attorney’s bill or two are part of the process, it is better to incur them before rather than after a proposal is made. Petitions, meetings and lawsuits could very well be in Vassalboro’s future because the town failed to consider a comprehensive land use ordinance.
The State Planning Office is expecting to make available next month a model ordinance covering wind power. Again, towns must do the work of customizing such documents to reflect whether they want to ban, encourage or perhaps strictly regulate where and how wind towers can operate. The town of Jackson in Waldo County, with a population of about 500, this month adopted a moratorium on wind power to give the town time to update its ordinances.
All municipalities in Maine would be wise to take on this task, whether for wind power, topless coffee shops or yet-to-be-imagined endeavors.