CAMDEN — The intersection of John Street, Route 1 and Conway Road has perplexed the town of Camden for years, and now the town may have some room to negotiate a solution. The Select Board will consider putting before voters in November a proposal to purchase parcels there at 14-16 John Street, property now comprising two dwellings and land approximately one half-acre in size.

The board will hold a public hearing Tuesday evening, Sept. 3, on the idea when it convenes in the Washington Street Meeting Room. The agenda of this regularly scheduled meeting also includes public hearings on several other possible November ballot questions that range from updating the harbor ordinance to asking Camden citizens if they want to float a $2 million bond to make improvements at the Camden Snow Bowl.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m., will be televised on cable television Public Access Channel 22 and streamed live over the Internet at www.townhallstreams.com/locations/camden-me.

According to a memo to Camden Select Board from Town Manager Pat Finnigan, the town obtained a 21-day option on the John Street property due to its strategic location. The option provides time to perform due diligence and determine if the property is useful in redesigning the intersection for cars and pedestrians. The two land parcels and two dwellings are together assessed by the town at $67,000.

"This parcel may be useful in designing improvements to this heavily-traveled Route 1 intersection," she wrote. "As you know, Camden and Rockport received a grant to construct a sidewalk on Route 1, which will run from Quarry Hill (Camden) to Leonard's (Rockport). Before constructing the sidewalk, it is important to explore improvements to this section of Route 1."

Already, the town has instructed Town Attorney Bill Kelly to conduct title work, and hired Gorrill & Palmer traffic engineers to analyze traffic and produce preliminary design concepts, which, wrote Finnigan: “will be helpful as the Select Board and the Planning Board consider land use and traffic patterns in this area of the community. If the Select Board determines the property will be useful to acquire, you can schedule the vote for the November Town Meeting, or you can hold a Special Town Meeting before November.”

Snow Bowl bond

The Tuesday evening meeting also includes a public hearing on the town’s proposal to float a $2 million bond to help fund lift and trail improvements, as well as new lodge construction, at the Camden Snow Bowl. Read about the project in depth: Snow Bowl ready to put $2 million bond before voters.

If approved, the $2 million would combine with $4.5 million in private donations and be spent at the year-round, town-owned Snow Bowl, with work beginning in 2014. The project has been in planning and fundraising phases since 2008, and proponents are now ready to advance it.

The language of the question reads as follows.

“Shall the Town:

(1) Approve a Capital Improvement Project to redevelop the facilities at Ragged Mountain, including all expenses reasonably related thereto;

(2) Accept donations in the approximate amount of Four Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($4,500,000) from the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area Foundation and other sources, which donations are to be applied to the costs of the Project;

(3) Appropriate the sum of Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000) to meet the Town's share of the costs of the Project; and

(4) fund this appropriation by authorizing the Treasurer and Chair of the Select Board to issue general obligation securities of the Town of Camden, Maine, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000), including the discretion to fix the date(s), maturity(ies), interest rates, call(s) for redemption, denomination(s), form(s) and other details of said securities, and including execution and delivery of said securities on behalf of the Town, and to provide for the sale thereof?

NOTE: The estimated total cost of the project is Six Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($6,500,000). The Town's share of the cost will be limited to the lesser of 30 percent of the actual cost of the Project or Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000). Town funds will be distributed by the Select Board in a manner which ensures that a minimum of seventy percent (70 percent) of the actual cost of the Project is funded by donations.”

Zoning, Harbor and Waterways Ordinance amendments

Three other public hearings will take place Tuesday evening, one to loosen the Business River District rules to allow for more small-scale enterprise in certain areas of town, to establish rules for temporary storage containers, and to update rules governing harbor use, the moorings there, the waiting list for moorings, and refining the duties of the harbormaster. The harbor ordinance was last updated in 2010.

Read the proposed changes to the zoning ordinance, as well as the harbor ordinance, here.

In other business

• The Camden Select Board will, Tuesday evening, consider appointing two members to a new four-town committee, the Emergency Medical Services Performance Committee. That committee’s task is to provide community oversight to the functioning of North East Mobile Health Services, the for-profit emergency medical service company that now provides ambulance care to Camden, parts of Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport. The committee is to meet quarterly and to assess patient satisfaction and operational performance.

•Consider accepting state Local Road Assistance Funds in the Amount of $57,792 for capital projects. They include

•Consider renewing a victualer licenses for Ravita, Inc, d/b/a Long Grain at 31 Elm Street; Blackberry Inn, 82 Elm Street; and the Elms B&B, 84 Elm Street

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.