A question of competition on the Wiscasset waterfront will go unanswered this year as a proposed vendor has pulled its request for pier space. Petersville Furniture and Home Decor of Gardiner had a change of plans and would not have time this year, but expressed an interest in applying again in 2017, Town Planner Ben Averill states in an Aug. 18 email response to the Wiscasset Newspaper.

The Waterfront Committee had recommended approving the 2016 application but not for the location the business sought, on the Main Street Pier. The committee, an advisory panel to selectmen, had instead suggested a grassy spot next to the Recreational Pier.

Committee members on July 28 raised concerns about the prospect of a second business selling wooden items on the Main Street Pier, where Two Bridges Regional Jail has a kiosk for its industries program. However, Petersville Furniture and Home Decor’s co-owner Tiffany Peters said in an interview July 28, its products are not similar to Two Bridges’. Peters also said she was not sure they would take the spot near the Recreational Pier; they would need to look into it, she said at the time.

The committee’s note on the application states in part, “Approved for suggested placement (near the Recreational Pier) in order to prevent a conflict of interest with Two Bridges Jail that sells similar products.”

Averill’s Aug. 6 memo to selectmen recommended the business for either pier.

The board had faced an Aug. 16 decision on the application, but Averill said selectmen didn’t take it up because the business asked to be taken off the agenda. Selectmen’s Chairman Judith Colby said Aug. 18 that she had formed no opinion on the application. She hadn’t looked into it because it didn’t end up going before the board, she said.

Averill said Aug. 19, it’s too soon to know how the Waterfront Committee would respond to a 2017 application, in part because it’s not known what the makeup of waterfront businesses will be. That is always evolving, he said.

In addition, the committee has begun talking about taking a fresh look at policies, so that could also factor into the committee’s response to a subsequent application, Averill said.

Rusty and Tiffany Peters did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the decision not to pursue a waterfront spot this year.