CAMDEN — In the second of a now an ongoing series of two-town meetings, the select boards of Camden and Rockport will convene Tuesday, Oct. 8, in Camden at the Washington Street Conference Room. This time, they are going to talk about the problematic intersection of Camden and John streets with Conway Road. They will also address potential collaborations around recreation, parks and trails.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

In a rare move, but with a growing acknowledgment that the two towns are closer in many ways than they have been over the last century, the two boards met last winter at the Rockport Town Office to talk about how to operate more efficiently together.  The meeting was historic in that the two boards rarely convene. The last time was in 2004, when the boards discussed partnering their police departments, even sharing law enforcement. A report was issued on that topic four years later in 2008, titled the "Camden and Rockport Police Consolidation Feasibility Study." The idea, and future discussions about tighter public safety relationships, were subsequently shelved.

At the January 29 meeting, the 10 board members, plus town managers, talked extensively about the importance of pathways connecting different parts of the communities, as well as recreational hiking and biking trails, and transportation to the health — economic, social and physical — of a community. In April, the two boards got together again, this time in Camden and to officially celebrate the receipt of a $133,600 federal grant to design and build a sidewalk alongside Route 1 near Hannaford’s grocery store.

At one time, Camden and Rockport were one town. Then, in the late 1800s, issues of public infrastructure funding arose, including that of the electric railroad, which would make for heated public conversations. A warrant article had been placed on the 1890 Camden Town Meeting asking whether the two villages should split, a proposal that that did not go quietly away. "Meetings were held in both villages to arouse the people for and against the division, sectional feeling ran high and sectional virulance became so acute that for a time it was hardly safe for a Rockport man to favor the proposition to 'divide' or a Camden man to oppose it," wrote Reuel Robinson, in his History of Camden and Rockport, Maine. The fight went to the Legislature, which enacted the town's division in 1891.

The sidewalk is to stretch from Quarry Hill Road, in Camden, and continue along Route 1 to Leonard's Clothing Store at 56 Commercial St. (Route 1). The project will include crossing improvements to the entrance of the Hannaford Shopping Plaza. The stretch of sidewalk will comprise 970 linear feet in Camden and 980 linear feet in Rockport. To read complete details of the plan, see the attached PDF above.

The project is listed in each Town's Comprehensive Plan as well as the Camden Rockport Pathway Committee's Master Plan. The grant requires a local match of 20 percent, totaling $33,407, which had been approved by Camden's and Rockport's select boards when the grant application was submitted last August. The Maine Department of Transportation oversees the Quality Community Program supporting the federal Transportation Enhancement funding. Typical types of projects funded under this program include sidewalks, crossing improvements, off-road connections and downtown improvements. The goal of this program is to improve transportation, improve safety, and promote economic development.

At the upcoming Oct. 8 meeting, the boards will move the discussion forward to talk about the Camden intersection that has been issue for the town for the past 30 years. The intersection is an awkward arrangement of four roads coming together at different angles: John Street, Route 1, Camden Street and Conway Road.

On Sept. 3, the Camden Select Board tabled making a decision of whether to put the purchase of a parcel on John Street before voters until they have reviewed preliminary engineering work they had commissioned from Gorrill and Palmer traffic engineers. That followed a discussion of possibly purchasing land on John Street that lies between that street and Conway Road, and carries a price tag of $105,000.

On Sept. 24, the Camden board got its first look at draft diagrams of how the intersection might be reconfigured. At a workshop following a public hearing about using some of the town’s unexpended funds to lower the tax bills, the board reviewed the designs that ultimately would affect the sidewalk/pathway work targeted for that stretch of Route 1.

 In an August memo to the Camden board, Town Manager Patricia Finnigan wrote: "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."

The boards at their Oct. 8 meeting are also to discuss a possible recreational path loop along Chestnut Street and Russell Ave., according to the agenda. They will also talk about their respective municipal projects. Their next meeting is scheduled for January.

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

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