CAMDEN — A code violation notice has been sent to the owners of 39 Main Street in downtown Camden in October, and now the Select Board will hold a public hearing Feb. 18 to determine whether the century-old building is structurally dangerous.

The Select Board will be operating in a quasi-judicial capacity during the upcoming hearing, and follow rules laid out in state statute governing dangerous buildings. The town will ask Knox County Sheriff’s Office to hand-deliver hearing notices to the parties that have a stake in the building’s ownership.

That will require one notice delivered to an address in Florida, said Camden Planner Jeremy Martin, when speaking to the Camden Select Board Tuesday evening, Jan. 7, at a regularly scheduled meeting. The other notice will be delivered to a Lincolnville address, he said.

39 Main Street has been unoccupied for, “many years now,” said Martin, following the departure of the gift shop Surroundings. It is the only empty storefront along downtown Camden's busiest street.

According to the National Register of Historic Places, the building dates back to August 1915, when it was originally constructed as the Waiting Station for the Rockland, Thomaston and Camden Railway. That was a time when the public traveled by electric trolley from Camden to Rockport, Rockland, Thomaston and even Warren, along a track that ran on what is now Route 1. (Read more about it in Barbara F Dyer's, 'Trolley Transportation.')

The building is part of the Camden Great Fire Historic District that was entered into the National Register Jan. 9, 2007 by Ann Morris and Christi Mitchell, working on behalf of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. They wrote in 2006: "The boundary of the Camden Great Fire Historic District have been drawn to include all of those resources rebuilt after the fire of 1892 that retain overall integrity of design, materials, workmanship, location, association, setting and feeling from the period of significance."

39 Main Street is one of a few buildings that straddle the Megunticook River outlet as it empties into Camden Harbor.

“The back of the building stands on wooden pilings in the catch basin of the Megunticook River falls,” the Register description said. 

While the National Register dates the building’s construction to 1915, the town has recorded its wood-frame construction in 1930, with improvements recorded 1999.

For a time, and until 1959, Central Maine Power owned the building, and it served as an office and store where customers could pay electric bills and buy small electrical appliances. The second floor was used as an apartment. 

Current town tax records report the building and property is assessed at $627,400. The land parcel is .06 acres in size, and it alone is assessed at $501,400. It most recently changed hands in 2020 for a sale price of $725,000.

In 2024, the building's condition grew into a contentious issue between the town’s code enforcement office and the building's owner. The town had raised concerns about the building’s foundational integrity, and on Oct. 4, 2024, the Camden Code Enforcement Office issued a violation notice to 39 Main Street owner Larry Weatherholtz, of Cape Neddick.

Based on a Sept. 11 visual inspection following receipt of a dangerous conditions report about a couple buildings, including 39 Main Street, "the Town hereby deems your building and equipment unsafe," the violation notice said.

The building sits on posts that rest on granite rock on the river’s outfall, and part of it is leaning on the nearby Smiling Cow building. Additionally, the building is apparently affixed to the Maine Dept. of Transportation owned bridge that spans the river in downtown Camden.

That bridge is due for a $2.63 million rebuild in 2026, a project labeled by the DOT as a bridge superstructure replacement.

"As I have indicated to you over many conversations the Town has been very concerned about the structural integrity of your building and has been trying to get you to take this seriously," wrote Planning and Development Director Jeremy Martin to Weatherholtz.

Martin acknowledged that Weatherholtz had retained engineers, but said the inspection elevated municipal concern. Martin warned that the town "must now take action to force you to address the structural integrity of this building...."

He described the failings: "For instance, one primary column on the waterside is completely degraded and no longer providing support. Additionally, the building appears to be shifting/leaning into the adjacent building to the north (41 Main Street, Smiling Cow) at the waterside end. This adjacent building is not designed or intended to provide later stability to your building at 39 Main Street."

The code enforcement office also determined that electrical, propane, sewer and water lines all run under the building.

If structural failure were to occur, consequences could include severe and, "potentially catastrophic impacts on adjacent properties, municipal and state infrastructure and the public," the violation notice said.

Martin said the town would engage its own engineers to assess the building, and warned Weatherholtz that if an engineered plan for remediation was not forthcoming, the Select Board would hold a hearing under the Dangerous Buildings statute.

Meanwhile, Marin said there is another party interested in purchasing the parcel and building.

At the Feb. 18 hearing, town staff and engineers will testify. The Select Board will listen to testimony from the various parties and adjudicate a decision.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com, 207-706-6657