After weeks of discussion, residents vote to delay action on the proposed changes to shoreland zoning ordinance until the planning board and town can do more work. State agency said proposal failed to meet minimum standards.

Mooring anchor line failed.

Vote at special town meeting came after state said proposed changes were not restrictive enough. The planning board’s proposal would have eliminated or reduced many regulations by exempting all properties in the town’s Residential District from Resource Protection District limitations. They said the change was needed mainly to ensure property owners could continue to trim or remove trees near the shoreline. But many year-round and seasonal residents raised concerns about the process, timetable and potential threat to mudflats, ponds and other natural resources.

Some Popham Village wells already have run dry. New calculations suggest that 19 of the peninsula’s 30 groundwater basins will be at risk by 2036.

Elementary school will stay open, while 3 town hall jobs will remain elected positions

Phippsburg voters will get the chance to weigh in on whether to close the town’s elementary school and send its 100-plus students to a new regional school being built in Bath.