LEWISTON – Two new development districts will make it easier for the city to condemn private property for downtown business growth.

The Lewiston City Council is scheduled to vote on establishing the districts, one around lower Lisbon Street and a second around Longley Bridge.

“By the nature of these areas, development there is more complex and requires more help from the city,” said City Administrator Jim Bennett. “These districts allow us to change some of the rules in the way we work economic development deals.”

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers.

Placing the areas in special districts lets the city buy private land more easily, Bennett said.

“Traditionally, municipalities only have the ability to force someone to dispose of their property if there is a clear and defined public purpose – like parks or buildings or roads or sidewalks,” Bennett said. “Economic development in its broadest sense is not defined as having that public purpose.”

The definition changes if the property in question is part of a special needs district. Both new districts have special needs, Bennett said.

“The area around lower Lisbon Street does have the things you hear talked about, the blight and the slums and the problems,” Bennett said.

The lower Lisbon Street district, called the Southern Gateway District, is tied to the economic deal with Oxford Networks and Franklin Property Trust the city announced last week. That district is bounded by Knox, Spruce, Lisbon, Cedar and Canal streets and Adams Avenue.

The area along the Androscoggin River on either side of the Longley Bridge has problems, too. The Western Gateway Development District would be created to solve those problems.

“You have a burnt-out mill and another in disrepair,” Bennett said. “As you look at it, you see an area that needs a lot of work. Even Bates Mill No. 5. That’s an asset to the community, but it’s an asset that needs a lot of work.”

Councilors are also scheduled to vote Tuesday on a development agreement with Oxford Networks and Franklin Property Trust targeting millions of dollars on lower Lisbon Street.

Plans call for three new office buildings, new sidewalks, buried utilities and a parking garage on the southern three-quarters of Lisbon and Canal streets between Maple and Cedar streets. The deal would bring between 200 and 300 jobs to the area and could be completed within three years.

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