NORWAY — The Select Board has scheduled a special Town Meeting next month to consider a six-month building moratorium along the Crooked River.

Code Enforcement Officer Chris Bilodeau, speaking on behalf of the Planning Board, made the request at Thursday’s board meeting.

The proposed moratorium would only cover property along the river and would not affect land along the town’s lakes and ponds, Bilodeau said.

The concern about development along Crooked River is due to its importance as a spawning area for wild salmon. The Norway section of the river is especially critical for the salmons’ survival.

Last year, James Pellerin, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife resource management supervisor for fisheries for the Sebago Lake Region, said, “Based on spawning and habitat surveys, the Sodom Road area of the river is the most significant reach of spawning and nursery habitat of the entire 62-mile river.”

The river feeds the entire salmon fishing stock in Sebago Lake.

Sodom Road runs from Route 117 in Norway to the Waterford town line.

Some town officials and residents would like to see more protection of the river. The moratorium would give the Planning Board time to study the issue and come up with the correct language for an ordinance or zoning change.

“We need six months to figure out how to change it,” Bilodeau said.

Selectman Sarah Carter, who watched the last Planning Board meeting where more than 20 residents attended to discuss the issue, praised the Planning Board for being transparent with the process.

To provide time for other potential articles, the Select Board scheduled the special Town Meeting for Thursday, Aug. 3, at a location to be determined. If it is available, the Forum at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on Main Street in Paris will be the likely location.

Another item that will appear on the warrant at the special Town Meeting is to correct the amount of money approved in the town budget for insurance. Interim Town Manager Bradley Plante said the town received an invoice from Kyes Insurance that was $10,507 more than budgeted.

Voters will need to approve that amount from the unassigned fund balance to cover the difference, an 8.73% increase over last year’s amount.

In other business, the board approved a bid of $722,358 for a new firetruck from Allegiance Fire and Rescue of Walpole, Massachusetts, part of Pierce Manufacturing. The five bids ranged from $624,355, which did not meet specs, to $840,930.

At last month’s annual Town Meeting, residents approved spending up to $800,000 from the reserve account for a new truck. By making a $125,000 down payment, the town will save $16,000, Fire Chief David Knox said. The remaining $78,000 is more than enough to equip the truck, Knox said.

It will take about two years before the town receives the truck, Knox said.

The board approved a request from the Fire Department to donate an unused Mako mobile single-fill station for air bottles, four steel DOT fill cylinders and a fill valve panel to the West Paris Fire Department. The device was too heavy and bulky for the squad to carry around.

Also approved by the board was a $20,000 donation to the Fire Department from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to purchase seven radios to improve communications and safety.

CN Brown was awarded the annual contract for No. 2 heating oil and gasoline, while Dead River Co. will supply propane and diesel fuel.

Russell Newcomb was unanimously reelected chairman of the Select Board and Carter was unanimously chosen vice chairman.

Carter said there will be a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. Sunday at the town’s new basketball courts on Cottage Street, funded through a grant from New Balance.

Plante advised residents of planned paving on Route 26 starting next week between Fair Street and just south of Walmart in Oxford. The project is expected to tie up traffic.

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