CAMDEN – The town’s welcome mat for tour buses could get a little smaller this summer.

Voters will have a chance in June to adopt an ordinance that calls for tour bus operators to seek a license from the Select Board and restricts routes around the scenic town to a handful of primary and secondary roads.

Defenders of the idea say idling buses can block views, clog streets and pollute the air.

Opponents cite the economic contribution made by the tourists on board the buses and worry that the measure is extreme.

The measure emerged after a town committee was set up last fall when a proposal came before the town for an open, trolleylike bus.

Select Board members worried they would hear the amplified voices of guides reverberating through downtown streets and that frequent stops where passengers would be picked up and discharged would pose a traffic hazard.

But according to town planner Jeff Nims, the committee widened its investigation into the issue when it became apparent that any new rules ought to cover all commercial tour vehicles.

“They really had to look at every type of bus,” Nims said Tuesday.

As proposed, the ordinance would regulate buses, vans and trolleys that carry 15 or more passengers for a fee on a fixed route within the town. The intent, the ordinance states, “is to protect the safety and quiet residential character of Camden’s neighborhoods.”

The ordinance would dictate which roads are open to tour buses: Route 1, Route 52, Route 105, Union Street, John Street, Mechanic Street between John Street and Hosmer Pond Road, Mechanic Street from Route 1 to the intersection of Free Street, Hosmer Pond Road, Conway Road and Free Street.

At a public hearing Monday night, Select Board members Dave Miramant and Paul Cartwright explained that the intent was to limit buses to the inland side of Route 1.

“We’re certainly welcoming buses,” Cartwright said.

Along with the state highways, the roads in town chosen for acceptable routes made sense for bus travel, Miramant added.

A narrow but busy commercial street such as Bay View Street – which gives way to a residential district featuring Camden’s larger, waterfront homes – should not be clogged by 45-passenger buses, Miramant said. A bus stopped on Bay View Street giving passengers a view to the bay through a yard could pose a traffic hazard, he said, if a car rounded one of the street’s sharp curves and encountered the bus.

But some business owners were unhappy about the proposed rule.

“What’s broken? What do we need this for?” asked Barrie Pribyl, a co-owner of ABCD Books on Bay View Street.

She told the board Monday that she first came to town in 1968 as a bus day-tripper and years later bought the bookstore.

Prescribing bus routes “seems a little confining and a little restrictive,” Pribyl said. “I find it quite odd that they would not have free access. This is not 42nd Street in Manhattan,” she said.

Chris Cobb, a resident who works as a nurse but also guides bus tours during the summer, reminded the board of the economic impact bus passengers have on the town.

“They leave a few thousand dollars here,” she said.

Cobb works for Globus bus tours, she said, and visits Camden six times during the course of the summer on buses that include the town on their itinerary. The ordinance would prevent her tours from driving from Chestnut Street or Bay View Street to Aldermere Farm in Rockport, she said, where the famous Belted Galloway cows are a favorite stop on the tour.

Resident John Scholz said he supported the proposed ordinance. He said buses often park on his street after unloading passengers downtown, with engines idling for up to four hours.

The town provides one bus parking space on Route 1 where passengers can be picked up or dropped off. Buses can remain in the space for 10 minutes. The parking space would remain under the proposed ordinance.

Nims said the list of exemptions in the proposed ordinance kept growing as various groups registered their concerns with the committee.

Among the exemptions are: public transportation operated or contracted by a town, county, state or school and nonprofit transportation organization; interstate buses passing through town; shuttle buses operated by a corporation for employees, clients or guests; taxis; vehicles with a capacity of no more than 15 passengers used for such events as home and garden tours, provided there are no more than three such events a year; and buses operated or contracted by inns or motels used to pick up or transport guests to downtown, provided they stay on the prescribed roads.

The board voted 4-1 to put the ordinance before voters on the June 12 ballot. Board member John French voted against moving the ordinance forward, arguing that it went beyond the scope of the original concerns.

“People want to make money off our town,” Miramant said in defending the ordinance. “We want to have a say.”

“We’re making money off of them,” French countered.

The ordinance was drafted by a town committee made up of Cartwright and Miramant, planning board member Kelly Macomber, Tom Phillip of the town’s parking, transportation and traffic committee, and at-large members Leonard Lookner, Franklin Walker, Rachel Bok Goldman and Kate Cohen. Nims served as staff to the group.