CAMDEN, Maine — A new petition is being circulated in downtown Camden — this one hoping to end the town’s controversial paid parking program less than a year after it began.
The petition seeks to put a question before voters in June asking voters if they should direct the Select Board to eliminate the new program and remove all parking meter kiosks.
“We, the undersigned residents and registered voters of the Town of Camden, respectfully petition the Select Board to take the necessary steps to ensure that the voters of Camden shall have a say in whether there is a paid parking program in town. We believe that the Town of Camden is best served when the voice and desire of its residents are considered when substantive changes to our town are contemplated,” the petition reads.
Realtor Alex Cohen said he was encouraged by several members of the business community to create and circulate the petition.
“I would argue that we haven’t needed a paid parking program in Camden’s 200-plus-year history, so why all of a sudden now?” he said. “What has appreciably changed?”
While he appreciated that the paid parking program will generate revenue for the town, he said it will come at a larger cost. “Money will be made, and we will be like other towns in doing so — but it misses the larger point that what makes Camden unique and special and a place where we all prefer to be is because we do things differently,” he argued. Cohen said he printed the petition March 20 and began distributing it that night.
Arthur Kirklian of the Leather Bench said he has been in downtown Camden for 55 years and worried the paid parking program would put an undue burden on downtown employees and as store owners, many of whom are older and may have trouble making the long walks to the free parking lots near the public safety building and Knox Mill Complex.
“It’s a foolish move that’s going to hurt the business community,” he said.
Kirklian said tourists may expect to pay for parking, but locals and visitors from nearby towns could be discouraged from shopping in Camden not just by the added cost but the inconvenience of having to use a credit card to, say, pick up a quart of milk at French & Brawn.
Betsy Perry of Antiques at 10 Mechanic St. raised concerns about challenges vendors and customers experienced when the system first came online late last summer.
“Many, probably most, of the business employees in town are not Camden residents,” she said. “In Antiques at 10 Mechanic, only six of our twenty working dealers are Camden residents. Those who are not residents will get no free parking. Being an antiques store, we have heavy boxes and furniture, which we frequently — often daily — have to unload close to the shop.”
While overshadowed by the more recent debate over the future of the Camden Police Department, paid parking kiosks have been among the most controversial issues in Camden in years.
The goals of the summer-only paid parking program include freeing up parking spaces downtown and generating non-tax revenue, with officials expecting hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in parking fees. Backers note most other coastal tourist destinations already charge for parking and argue free parking is not truly free, since taxpayers still bear the cost of maintaining roads, while locals and tourists alike struggle to find spaces during the high season.
But the program barely got underway last year before the end of the tourist season — and immediately ran into an unexpected problem.
After lengthy debate and delays, the kiosks were finally installed in September 2025. Within hours of their installation, however, a vandal damaged 25 of the 31 kiosks with spray paint and foam, delaying the rollout. Police have still not identified a suspect, who appears only as a hooded figure in grainy security footage.
Despite the setbacks, the program generated nearly $23,000 in revenue over its two weeks of operation, from Oct. 15 to 31, according to Holly Anderson, Camden’s communication and outreach coordinator and liaison to the Parking Working Group.
“Upfront expenses included $266,707 for equipment, $3,140 for installation, and $8,230 for operations (meter fees, merchant fees, etc.). Enforcement costs in 2026 were paid out of the Police Department’s budget, but for 2027 have been included in the Paid Parking Special Revenue Fund budget at $96,300 (1 full-time and 1 part-time),” Anderson wrote in a memo.
And officials said the town has always paid for parking enforcement, even under the previous two-hour-free limit.
The Select Board voted 4-1 to adjust the program for the coming season, running from Memorial Day to Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — extended from 5 p.m. — except at the public landing, where it will run until 8 p.m. The rate was set at $2 per hour. Vice Chair Alison McKellar voted against the motion.
Some also discussed creating free parking stickers for Camden residents.
The petition is one of two active efforts from residents.
The other seeks to preserve a town-run police department after the Select Board’s decision to contract the Knox County Sheriff’s Office to temporarily oversee operations following the departure of longtime Chief Randy Gagne. Petitioners delivered 547 signatures March 18, hoping to force a June ballot question.
Select Board Chair Susan Dorr raised procedural concerns about both petitions in a statement March 25.
“The petition being circulated to require a town meeting referendum on the paid parking program is, like the earlier petition regarding hiring of the Police chief and possible future engagement with Knox County, injecting the voters of Camden into an area that is within the purview of the town Manager and the Selectboard, by state statute and Town of Camden charter,” she said. “Both of these issues have raised a lot of public opposition. Both of these initiatives have been presented as a means of relieving some of the burden on the property tax base but, unfortunately the public has jumped to conclusions that the character and security of Camden will be forever altered by these actions.”
“I sincerely wish that a more measured public conversation were possible,” Dorr continued. “The budget impact of maintaining the current police department structure and scaling back or dismantling the paid parking program are considerable.”
She said failing to cut costs or find alternative revenue sources could increase the burden on taxpayers and make Camden less affordable, potentially “result[ing] in a hollowed-out community lacking economic diversity and vibrance.”
“Citizens expect and deserve a responsive town government and the administration takes seriously the need to look for cost savings and alternate revenue streams,” Dorr continued. “We are constrained in having ONLY property taxes and fees as revenue sources. Sadly, with such public outcry about initiatives designed to alleviate some of the burden on the tax base, property owners will be forced to bear this increased burden entirely.”
“Emotional reactions cannot be the sole drivers of long-term policy,” Dorr added.
But Cohen and other supporters are continuing their efforts.
“If the Select Board and town manager argue that paid parking and the police department are non-petitionable items and choose not to move forward with a ballot article, then I think it will prove that they will go out of their way to avoid the will of the people and a basic democratic process.”
“They will look very bad if this is the position they decide to take,” he added.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
