CAPE ELIZABETH — The Town Center Pedestrian Safety Committee is expected to recommend solar-powered pedestrian crossing signals and other traffic improvements at the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

The group, made up of Town Councilor Sara Lennon, School Board member Mary Townsend, Thomas Kinley and state Rep. Cynthia Dill, D-Cape Elizabeth, was created to “evaluate pedestrian issues in the town center, to review progress and to make additional recommendations.”

In an Oct. 1 report the group recommends spring and fall crosswalk painting at a cost of $2,000; in-road stanchions, pictographic signs at the crosswalks and flags for pedestrians at $750, and solar-powered pedestrian crossing signals on Ocean House Road from Key Bank to the Coldwell Banker real estate office.

The cost for the signals is estimated at $20,000 and is recommended to come from a 2008 bond set aside for town center sidewalk and drainage improvements. The cost of the solar panels is subject to bidding.

Councilors will also discuss the future of Thomas Memorial Library, and will recommend that Thomas Memorial Library trustees assume responsibility for library planning efforts.

In a memo to the council from the Thomas Memorial Library Study Committee, Chairman Jim Rowe said “due to the impending significant change in the makeup of the Town Council, it was felt that further consideration of the library by the council should be delayed until after the new members are on the board and have experienced a period (and program) of orientation.”

Councilors will also hear recommendations from the Planning Board regarding zoning changes in the town center. The amendments to the zoning would allow greater density of multi-family uses in town center and, in a two-story building, allow more than 50 percent to be residential as long as the first floor is nonresidential. The Planning Board will recommend the proposal be referred to the Ordinance Committee.

In other business, councilors will vote to oppose statewide referendum Question 2, the excise tax reduction question, and Question 4, the referendum to limit state and local spending. Councilors will also vote to authorize a site plan for the installation of a privately funded concession stand at Hannaford Field.

They are expected to hear from a resident who has questions about conservation land and the use of municipal property near 8 Leighton Farms Road, and will schedule a public hearing for Nov. 9 on amendments to the Traffic Ordinance.

For information on the meeting Wednesday, Oct. 14, visit the Town Web site or call 799-5251.

Amy Anderson can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or aanderson@theforecaster.net

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