FORT KENT – Snowmobilers will have access to the downtown business district this winter along much of the same route they have taken in the past, it was decided Wednesday night.

The Fort Kent Town Council approved a temporary route that is consistent with laws and rules of snowmobile travel, Town Manager Donald Guimond said Thursday.

The access from the Heritage Trail, a former railroad track from Market Street on the east side of the Fish River to the town of St. Francis, will allow snowmobilers access to West Main Street. The local snowmobile club is erecting signs for the access route.

The access route will come off the north side of the Heritage Trail, cross Pearl Street and travel north along the 550-foot-long St. Joseph Street to property owned by Gary Dumond, the local Skidoo dealer. From his property, the trail will cross Elm Street and exit onto an Irving Oil Co. lot on West Main Street.

“The route is consistent with current interpretations by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Maine Warden Service,” Guimond said. “The route was approved for this winter after consulting with the agency.

“Snowmobiles can travel up to 900 feet from a trail to their destination,” he said.

Guimond said a permanent solution to the problems of snowmobile access to West Main Street is still under discussion by a six-person subcommittee appointed last month.

The town will have another public hearing on snowmobile access to the downtown on Tuesday, Jan. 15, in the town office.

The town has been struggling with the issue since last spring when Robert Plourde, a St. Joseph Street resident, raised issues of noise, health and safety problems with snowmobiles traveling through the residential neighborhood.

In other business Wednesday night, the town council approved a 45 percent rate increase for municipal water users.

Most of the rate increase is due to the construction of an aeration system. That project, which costs about $836,000, is under construction and should be completely on line by the end of January.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission already has reviewed the proposed rate increase. Guimond said the MPUC should finalize it within a few days. The rate increase is to be effective Feb 1.

Guimond reported to the town council Wednesday night that a road project, about one mile on North Perley Brook Road, would be done next summer.

The town will pay for about 33 percent of the work on the state aid road. The state pays two thirds of state aid road projects. Guimond expects that state highway workers will do the work.

Preliminary estimates for the work are between $400,000 to $450,000. The town’s share will be between $132,000 and $148,000.

In final action Wednesday night, the town council extended Guimond’s contract as town manager to Dec. 31, 2003.