FARMINGTON – The downtown tree plan has been revised again.

This time the eight trees will be planted in square concrete planters, 5-feet-by-5-feet and 30 inches tall, in the streets’ striped zones. The planters will be a brick-like color and hold “good -sized” trees, Town Manager Richard Davis said.

A Dig Safe official came to look at the sites picked out on Broadway and Main Street, Davis said, and discovered too many wires and conduits running under the paved streets.

As a result, the planters will be clustered around Main and Broadway.

“The good thing about this is we’ll be able, if they present a problem, to relocate them fairly quickly and easily,” Davis said.

The tree project has been revised several times with the initial presentation having 13 trees planted in the sidewalks. The town’s Conservation Commission was awarded a $6,000 Maine Department of Transportation Community Gateway Award grant to plant trees to beautify the downtown area. The town was to match the remainder of the $11,920 project with in-kind services and volunteer labor. The plan was changed to eight trees in the street built on sidewalk swells with granite curbing. Selectmen narrowly approved that idea 3-2 on April 7.

The new plan will cost more money, Davis said, due to each of the planters costing $1,000. But the DOT has increased its share of the grant by $2,000 bringing the state’s contribution to $8,000. Davis said it would be cheaper for the town this way. The trees, which will be around eight feet tall, will cost about $140.

Davis is asking people to give the idea a try.

“That’s all we’re asking,” he said. “I think it has the potential to add some beauty to an already attractive downtown.”



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