When it came to the waterfront, the town of Newcastle voted to keep things the way they are.

During a special town meeting on Monday, Dec. 9, the town rejected the Standard of Newcastle LLC's donation of two boat slips and two parking spots with 33 people voting against it and 24 people voting for it.

More than 60 people were in attendance to vote Monday. The warrants included whether or not to vote for or against accepting the gift of the slips and the parking spaces; to spend $20,000 to research the slips and parking spaces; and to accept the consent and contract zone agreement and whether or not to sell a 1.3 acre parcel of land to Central Maine Power.

But it was the donation that garnered the most discussion.

David Levesque, the attorney for neighboring Stetson House and Old Shipyard LLC, had been an ardent opponent of the gift and mentioned in an earlier meeting his clients would seek a court date should the matter move forward.

On Monday, he spoke to the town about what it would mean to accept.

“Sometimes a gift isn't a gift,” he said. “It's not the right time for this. There's just no real benefit to the town.”

Levesque said the town would start down a slippery slope should it accept the gift.

But, the time might never have been better, town attorney Peter Drummond said.

“They aren't making any more coastline,” he said. “The plan is a work in progress, but it has also been important to get more waterfront access to the town.”

In the end, the town voted against the article, and article four, which would have raised $20,000 for the town to explore the feasibility of the project. Article four failed, 46 against, 13 for.

The second article, to sell a parcel of land to CMP as part of the construction of a grid reliability project for $2,5000, was passed, with 50 people voting for the sale, and six against.

Article five, which dealt with the consent and contract zone agreement, passed easily with 40 people voting for and 19 voting against.