OXFORD – Selectmen on Thursday agreed in concept to support two economic development initiatives that could bring new business and jobs to the town.

The plan which could benefit Oxford most directly is a proposal to have the town contribute $85,000 to help fund a Route 26 business park being developed by Western Maine Development, the real estate arm of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.

The town money would be spent exclusively to repair Number Six Road, from its intersection with Route 26 to the railroad tracks. The road would become one-way turning in from Route 26.

The town has already spent $26,000 this year on repairs to the road, and future repairs are already included in next year’s capital plan.

“If the town will commit to fix Road 6 from Route 26 to the railroad tracks, then we will take on the risk for the whole program,” said Brett Doney, chief executive officer of Western Maine Development.

A new 620-foot road would then be built from Route 26 north of the town’s Public Safety Building to hook up with the Number Six Road about 800 feet from the existing intersection. The new road would have both left- and right-hand turning lanes to accommodate manufacturing needs of the four 10-acre lots being developed on the 43 acres. Three phase power would also be brought in.

The growth council needed selectmen to sign off on their application, due Nov. 3, for at least $200,000 in funds available through a new state program, the Municipal Investment Trust Fund.

The growth council itself plans to kick in at least $240,000 of its own funds, and will ask the town to designate the park as a Tax Increment Financing district to help the agency recover some of its development costs.

Tom Kennison, a member of the Oxford Economic Development Committee, said the committee strongly supports the plan.

Doney said the first choice for park tenants would be manufacturing, but the park has potential for distribution facilities, back-office companies, and even retail use. One of the lots would have direct access to the railroad, noted Selectman Mike Thompson.

“Other towns, that’s why they get these things, because they take the chance,” Thompson said.

“Manufacturing isn’t dead in this area,” said Doney, citing the expansion at Keiser Industries in Oxford and the new KBS Systems plant in Paris. He said Maine Machine Products Co. in Paris recently started up a second shift again in its precision-engineering plant in Paris.

A broader initiative selectmen voted to support was the town’s participation in the Pine Tree Development Zone program, which grants tax incentives to new and existing businesses in economically distressed areas of the state. The state has already designated the entire Androscoggin Valley region as a Pine Tree Development Zone, and in Oxford Hills the hope is to identify at least four sites no larger than 500 acres that are ready for commercial development.

Olson said she is working with Town Manager Mike Huston and Code Enforcement Officer Rodney Smith to come up with the best sites for Oxford.

Huston pointed out that like the Municipal Investment Trust Fund, the town’s involvement in the Pine Tree Development Zone program would have to be approved by voters at town meeting.

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