WATERB ORO — Selectmen in a 4-1 vote approved an updated campground ordinance Tuesday, but declined – at least at this stage – to include provisions for year-round use.

Selectwoman Tammy-Jo Girard had suggested a clause stipulating that campgrounds operate only from May 1 to Oct. 31 be stricken from the proposal, reasoning that the ability to offer some year-round service could draw people to Waterboro and provide revenue for owners. The prospect of year-round campsites, she said, could attract snowmobiling enthusiasts and hunters.

The update comes as contracted planner Lee Jay Feldman of the Southern Planning and Development Commission reviews Waterboro’s ordinances. The review and update process is expected to continue throughout the year.

At a public hearing Tuesday, Feldman said the proposed campground ordinance also speaks to the intensity of lighting that campgrounds are allowed to have, the size of hammerhead turn-arounds, the requirement for buffer strips, planting and fencing along property lines, minimum lot size, electric requirements and more.

“The existing (campground) ordinances are outdated and, quite honestly, don’t make any sense,” Feldman said.

One provision, selectmen noted, requires a “turnpike-size” 50-foot wide roadway – and, they pointed out, no road within the town is that wide.

Selectman Gordon Littlefield wondered how the town could enforce lighting intensity, called foot-candles.

Feldman said lighting consultants can assist campground developers with lighting that conforms to the ordinance, but acknowledged enforcement is more difficult.

He said there are only a few campgrounds in New England that offer year-round use, and there is a concern that over time, they could turn into trailer parks.

Littlefield suggested the town offer weekend or three-day passes to prospective campers, should a campground want to be open in the winter. Girard said he’s not interested in having the town administer a program.

“It’s a great idea,” said Selectman Jon Gale of a year-round provision. “But I don’t want to hold up the ordinance further.”

Campgrounds that want to offer year-round services would have to ensure that water and sewer lines are buried deep enough to inhibit freezing, and selectmen and others also mentioned concerns about snowplowing and the ability of emergency vehicles to access a site in winter.

Wayne Michaud, who bought Cold River Campground off Route 9 in Eddington, near Brewer, a year ago, said his place is open on a very limited basis in the winter.

There is one available cabin, and the campground has four sites for RVs that can be hooked up to the sewer system, but there’s one caveat: The water is turned off, so campers must arrive with full holding tanks (as most do, he said), or fill them with a hose from the campground’s laundry room.

“This is not an easy fix,” said Gale as selectmen talked about the off-season possibilities. “If we hold it up to talk about this, we’ll be talking about it three months from now.”

In the end, the proposed ordinance passed without a winter provision, with Girard the lone dissenter.

The updated ordinance applies to new campground developments and expansions of existing campgrounds, selectmen said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].