Camden Select Board to consider harbor fee increases, switching streetlights to LEDs, accepting resiliency grants
CAMDEN — Camden’s Select Board has a full agenda of municipal business to tend to Dec. 17, following a meeting cancellation in early December due to bad weather, as requisite fishermen and liquor license permit applications have rolled in to the town office, as well as quotes for converting street lamps to light emitting diodes (LED) and making improvements to the third floor of the opera house.
The agenda for the Tuesday evening meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the John French Meeting Room, and will be streamed as well as televised, includes appointments to volunteer committees, consideration of employee discounts at the Snow Bowl for season passes, consideration of three federal and state grants to the town, the LED plan, and a proposal to endorse a plastic packaging guidelines.
Camden will also consider two quotes to make improvements to the third floor of the Opera House ($133,000 and $139,000), as well as proposals for raising the harbor fees associated with docks and floats for the 2020 season.
Concerning the latter, the Harbor Committee has recommended that the town increase the float and mooring fees for nonresidents and residents, depending on which ones.
For example, one side of an inner harbor float for transients would increase from $550 to $750; for residents and nonresidents, $400 to $600.
Mooring fees would also increase incrementally for boats, price dependent on length of vessel.
Fisherman float and parking fees may go up from $400 to $500, if approved, and daysailers, from $2,500 to $2,600 for annual fees.
The largest proposed increase, however, concerns cruise ship dockage, of 175 passengers or fewer. They would increase from $800 to $1,600.
LED street lamps
In November, Camden Town Manager Audra Caler-Bell received an audit of the town’s streetlight network from Realterm Energy, based in Annapolis, Maryland.
The audit (see attached PDF for full report) said the upgrade of existing streetlights to LEDs would, “reduce overall operating costs by 76 percent in the first year.”
That 76 percent translates to $36,572, according to the report.
The cost of converting all the lights would cost $118,051. Another $36,225 would be spent on acquisition of equipment from Central Maine Power, for a total project costs of $154,276.
Camden has 271 cobra head fixtures and six decorative lamps. The current annual consumption is 112,230 kilowatt hours.
Over a 20-year period, the town is expected to save $842,279 in streetlight costs compared to the current system. The LED luminaire life expectancy is 23 years.
Grants
Camden has received three matching grants, “for projects related to improving resiliency to climate change and restoring habitat within the Megunticook Watershed,” according to Caler-Bell.
The grants include:
1. Island Institute Shore Up Grant, $10,000: Montgomery Dam and Harbor Park Seawall Engineering and Design
2. Maine Coastal Program Coastal Communities Grant, $40,000: Montgomery Dam and Harbor Park Seawall Engineering and Design
3. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Coastal Resilience Fund Grant, $139,000: Megunticook River Fish Passage and Flood Prevention Site Assessment and Design
“The first two grants will both exclusively focus on the engineering and design work for the Montgomery Dam and Harbor Park Seawall,” wrote Caler-Bell, in the Dec. 3 meeting packet (See attached PDF). “The NFWF Grant is a full feasibility study on dam removal, fish passage and river restoration along the entirety of the Megunticook River.
“For FY20 $30,000 in reserve funds and $75,000 in capital improvement funds were budgeted toward these projects. I am also requesting formal authorization to use these funds as matching contributions for these grants.
“It’s quite an achievement for Camden to have received so much external funding for projects that address resiliency to climate change. This speaks volumes of the importance of the Megunticook Watershed in Camden’s efforts to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
