The Town of Temple will be going back to the drawing board to find a location for its future highway garage, after voters at a special Town Meeting rescinded a vote in March designating a piece of town-owned land for that purpose.

After a narrow vote in March, a group of citizens gathered signatures for a petition to hold a Town Meeting for two items – to rescind the vote in March designating a section of land across from the town municipal building, known as the Skladany land, for a future highway garage, and a second to designate a committee to evaluate land options for the future building.

The meeting was packed, with a total of 254 residents attending – a number that outstripped the attendance for Town Meeting in March – and the start was delayed by 30 minutes while a line of residents that stretched out the door of Temple Elementary School was checked in by the supervisors of the checklist.

Of those in attendance, 180 voted yes to repealing March’s vote designating the Skladany land for the Highway Department, compared to 70 no votes.

Bruce Kullgren, one of the organizers of the petition, said the original vote in March, which was much narrower, “wasn’t a good representation.” Kullgren and other voters speaking in favor of the repeal stressed one point multiple times – the need for more information.

Amy Cabana, another petition organizer, said she attended planning meetings where using the Skladany land was discussed, but said the details appeared sketchy.

“I assumed it would be fleshed out at Town Meeting,” Cabana said, but the explanations offered didn’t satisfy her.

Cabana said while the organizers of the petition weren’t opposed to building a new highway garage, additional research was needed. She said she was not convinced by arguments that traffic flow out of the current garage, which shares space with Town Hall and the library, was an issue, saying the amount of traffic was “minimal.”

Gail Cromwell, a member of the town’s Land Use Committee, said that those concerns were very real.

“I know people don’t believe there is a danger in the area between the Town Hall and library. You are wrong,” Cromwell said.

Cromwell said the larger amount of space on the Skladany land would be better for pedestrian safety and was a more-suitable site for environmental reasons.

“It’s a very cramped, inefficient site,” Cromwell said.

Conservation Commission member Scott Hecker said that the Skladany site is more suitable, in part because the water would flow into a retention pond, and not directly into the aquifer.

Former Road Agent Tim Fiske spoke against the article, saying the department was in need of a new building, and more space, to get its existing equipment all under a roof.

“Please vote no on these warrant articles and get the show on the road,” Fiske said.

Following the ballot vote on the first article, an amendment was offered on the second article, which originally was to form a committee to examine potential highway sites and report the results to the Select Board. Cromwell offered an amendment to have the committee report the results instead to the 2024 annual Town Meeting.

The amendment was approved after a show of hands, when a voice vote was too close to call.

After far less discussion than accompanied the vote on the first article, residents approved the formation of the committee in a 181-39 vote.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.