CAMDEN — At first, B&B owner Kristi Bifulco wasn’t going to pursue changing local ordinance to allow her to seek municipal approval for serving e dinner to her guests. After the Aug. 12 Camden Select Board where her effort to get a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot was defeated, she was ready to throw in the towel.

Bifulco admitted she was bitter about the outcome, and decided that night not to push ahead with her last option: Circulate a petition to get the ordinance amendment on the ballot.

“I wasn't going to do it,” she said, Aug. 19. “But I received so many phone calls. So many people stopped by and said where's the petition. They said no, we want to vote.”

So, at the end of last week, Bifulco went to the town office and took out petition papers. So far she has submitted 112 signatures back to the town — “the first batch,” she said — and has five friends walking the Camden neighborhoods.

They are asking citizens to sign a measure that requests that the town put an article on a Camden ballot. If so, it will be the only municipal warrant article to appear before voters that has to do with town business. There will be a substantial state ballot, along with electoral candidates, and town clerks are anticipating a hefty turnout at the polls.

The petitioners need at least 279 valid signatures.

The petition includes the proposed ordinance amendment: “Shall the town vote to amend the Camden Zoning Ordinance. Article VI, Section 2 subsection 2(c) to the Traditional Village (V) zone to allow inns abutting High Street and within 500 feet of a zone allowing restaurants to be granted a special exception to serve meals to overnight guests only.”

State law (Title 30-A, Section 2522) says: “On the written petition of a number of voters equal to at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast in the town at the last gubernatorial election, but in no case less than 10, the municipal officers shall either insert a particular article in the next warrant issued or shall within 60 days call a special town meeting for its consideration.”

Bifulco is intending the warrant article be placed on secret ballot and not be scheduled for a vote from the floor at a special town meeting.

She is targeting petition deadline for Aug. 27, in preparation for the Sept. 2 Camden Select Board meeting.

There, the board will consider whether to place the amendment on the ballot, or call a special town meeting on the matter. The board can refuse to do so; however, that is rare. 

State law also says, “If the selectmen unreasonably refuse to call a town meeting, a notary public may call the meeting on the written petition of a number of voters equal to at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast in the town at the last gubernatorial election, but in no case less than 10.”

Camden voters are no strangers to petitions for ballot language. In 2007, a petition placed an article before voters concerning the harbor business district. In 2009, a petition placed on the ballot an article to do with the Apollo Tannery.

If the Select Board approves inclusion of the article on the November warrant, it will be the only municipal article. Town Clerk Katrina Oakes estimates it will cost approximately $2,000 to program the ballot box and print the ballots for the municipal portion of the November vote.

Bifulco and her husband, Jesse, are owners of the eight-room Windward House, at 6 High Street (Route 1), in Camden, just north of the public library.

Last winter, Bifulco approached Camden Planning Board last winter, requesting a language change in the ordinance so that she could serve dinner to her B&B guests. The Planning Board then directed Code Enforcement Officer Steve Wilson to assist Bifulco in crafting an amendment.

The subsequent amendment, if approved, would have been included in the town’s definition of inns and would effectively allow an inn abutting High Street and within 500 feet of a zone where restaurants are already allowed the possibility of being granted a special exception “to be allowed to serve meals to overnight guests only, subject to meeting the standards of a Low Impact Use as determined by the Zoning Board of Appeals.”

The 500-foot area in question would extend north on High Street (Route 1) from the intersection of Route 52.

Bifulco returned to the Camden Planning Board in April with the new language. After discussion and a few more changes following a planning board discussion, she returned again in May. At its May 15 meeting, voting 2 to 2, the Planning Board was split in its opinion on whether Bifulco’s proposed amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance should be sent on for further consideration and eventual placement before a citizen vote at town meeting.

But at the next board meeting, June 3, Planning Board Chairman Lowrie Sargent reported that the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals has a policy that dictates when five members are not present to vote, and when there are tie votes, the applicant or the board can recommend the application be continued to a meeting when five members are present.

In early July, the Planning Board reversed its earlier decision and voted 4 to 1 to send the amendment to the Camden Select Board for consideration for inclusion on the November ballot.

A the measure moved through the municipal process, opponents and proponents spoke at public hearings, and submitted letters to the town. Opponents characterized the amendment as “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and one that would create a slippery slope of ordinance changes that erode the integrity of the town’s zoning. They said allowing an inn in that 500-foot stretch of Camden to serve dinner would negatively affect other restaurant owners in town who are trying to make a living.

They also objected to the practice of special exceptions, spot zoning and contract zoning, saying the town’s comprehensive plan should be nexus for considering and recommending ordinance changes. The comprehensive plan is currently undergoing a revision and is expected to be ready for voters in 2016.

Supporters had said the economy has changed enough, and that the competition presented via the Internet (e.g., couch surfing, renting apartments and homes to tourists) has grown, so much so that innkeepers must get more creative in attracting guests and building a more solid business base.

They said the effect on the immediate residential neighborhood would be minimal, given that the Windward House already operates as a commercial entity, along with two other B&Bs in the 500-foot-stretch under discussion.

At a vote of 3 to 2, on Aug. 12, the Camden Select Board halted the amendment from appearing on  the ballot.

The vote followed a lengthy public hearing that night at which 11 citizens spoke against the measure and one in favor of it. The Select Board also discussed the issue, with two members admitting that they were changing their minds based on testimony delivered during the hearing. At a July 23 meeting, board members had articulated support for letting the Camden electorate decide the issue.

Bifulco said she started the petition circulating on Friday, Aug. 15.

“A lot of people having been watching this,” she said, on Aug. 19. “I thought it was truly a little thing, but a lot of people are on the side of democracy and being American and were really angry. I wasn't going to do it, but I feel great about it. I love the energy. I feel what was in that room [Aug. 12 Select Board meeting] did not represent the town. I walked away so bitter. Now the energy is really supportive.”

She said she has encountered “really great support for small business in town. After doing this petition I have a whole new outlook on the town of Camden.”

Related links:

Camden innkeeper’s zoning amendment not to go before voters, Select Board says

Innkeeper’s proposed ordinance change slated for public hearing Aug. 12

• Innkeeper's effort to serve overnight guests dinner back before Camden Planning Board

• Camden board moves innkeeper's proposal to town leaders

• Camden Planning Board nixes innkeeper's quest to serve dinner to guests

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657