CAMDEN — Responding to Camden Police Chief Randy Gagne's description that a drive down Sea Street on a typical summer day is "like threading a needle," the Select Board Tuesday night voted unanimously to approve the chief's request for an experimental parking change.

Gagne's suggested changes include limiting parking to the east side of Sea Street, from Atlantic Avenue to the entrance to Lyman Morse at Wayfarer Marine. There would be no parking on the harbor (west) side of the street and no parking longer than 24 hours. And RVs would be prohibited from parking on Sea Street at any time.

"I'm not saying my suggestions would be the best, but like any plan, until we try something we won't know what works," said Gagne Tuesday night.

The request for the parking changes to Sea Street came both from a citizen request, and Gagne's own observations. He said he has witnessed many times during June, July and August, that the congestion can be so bad that fire apparatus would not be able to respond to an incident in the area.

"At my request, Fire Chief Chris Farley took the ladder truck over to Sea Street to check the maneuverability in that area with the truck. It's pretty tight," said Gagne. "Any calls that would require an emergency response from the FD would be a problem. It's stacked up on both sides."

Gagne said he solicited input from Sea Street and surrounding area residents and he received mixed responses.

Some residents wanted to do with RV and long-term parking, while others wanted things left the way they were, citing more issues caused by fewer spaces to park. Others raised concerns about the street being used for long-term boat parking, walkers not using the sidewalk and a need for painted lines to designate spaces for parking.

At least one resident complained about "The NASCAR departure of shipyard employees at 4 p.m. in the winter" and another cited more speeding as an outcome of limiting parking to one side and making the road easier to travel.

"I hope that if we start doing some education now and in the spring, to move them over to the east side and improve the signage, I hope that by the end of next summer we will have it all working well," said Gagne.

Ray Andreasen, a Cove Road resident, said that another issue is the large numbers of construction and landscape vehicles that park on Sea Street while working on yards.

"If they are restricted to one side, they will take up most of the available parking," said Andreasen. "And 90 percent of the parking comes up from Atlantic Avenue, and that means more U turns at the end of Sea Street and on Cove Road to turn around and park on the east side of the street."

Gagne said he agreed with Andreasen's concerns, but said that education will make things better over time and more use of vacant driveways by commercial vehicles could keep parking spaces open.

"Cove Road had a lot of use this summer, and stopping the week-long parking on Sea Street will likely add to that, but I think we need to do something," said Gagne.

Also Tuesday night:

• The Select Board voted unanimously to send a letter to the Maine Department of Transportation to request a change to make the intersection at Washington and Mechanic streets a four-way stop. Police Chief Randy Gagne said that the pedestrian and oncoming vehicle safety aspect of the change would far outweigh emergency vehicle response time, as police cars and fire trucks already have to slow down to make the turn to the majority of their calls.

• The Select Board voted to dispose of three tax-acquired properties, one of which will be offered by bid and two offered for sale to abutters unless Public Works requests keeping a parcel, too small to build on, as a town right of way. Town Manager Patricia Finnigan was asked to obtain fair market values on all three properties, which will then come back before the board for a final decision on how to dispose of them.

• Following the public hearing during which there were no comments from the public, the Select Board voted unanimously to adopt appendices to the General Assistance Ordinance.

• Following the public hearing to review the final corrected language of proposed Harbor Ordinance Amendments, the Select Board voted unanimously to place the amendments on the November ballot.

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.