OXFORD – Tax revenue from businesses that locate in the proposed Oxford Business Park would be sheltered under a tax increment financing district, selectmen were told Thursday.

The park’s developer, Western Maine Development, is seeking the town’s approval for a TIF that would allow the growth agency to recover a $147,000 loan investment in the project over time, said Chief Executive Officer Brett Doney.

The TIF could be designed to allow WMD to receive 50 percent of the tax revenue from development on the 40-acre Route 26 property until the growth agency has recovered its $147,000, Doney said. The property was donated to the agency by developer Robert Bahre of Paris.

The other 50 percent of revenue could be set aside to be used by Oxford’s Economic Development Committee to further other economic development projects in town, Doney said.

Selectmen agreed to have the economic development committee work on the TIF language, which would need to be presented to voters at a public hearing. It would be subject to a vote at the March town meeting.

A $232,000 state grant that was recently awarded to the growth agency under a Municipal Investment Trust Fund program would pay for 50 percent of the public infrastructure costs of the four-lot industrial park, Doney said. The other 50 percent needs to come as a match from WMD and the town. The project requires road improvements and installation of three-phase power and a water line.

The town agreed to make $85,000 in improvements from Pierce Road to the railroad tracks on Number Six Road, which borders the park on one side. About $30,000 in improvements have already been made on a stretch of Number Six Road closer to Route 26.

Doney said the Maine Department of Transportation has OK’d creation of an entrance from Route 26 to Number Six Road at the park’s boundary. The old entrance to Number Six Road would be restricted to one-way traffic turning in from Route 26.

“We would like to go to construction by April at the earliest,” Doney said.

He said WMD has tentative buyers for non-retail use of two of the lots on 13 acres located closest to Route 26. The growth agency is asking $15,000 an acre for non-retail buyers. Retail buyers would pay $25,000 an acre, he said.

“The enticement we’re using is the affordable price of the land,” he said. Plans for other tax incentives are possible if the park is designated by the state as a Pine Tree Development Zone, he said.

Doney said the growth agency will also apply for state highway department funding to create turning lanes at the new entrance to Number Six Road.

The site plan for the project still needs to be approved by the Oxford Planning Board.

Town Manager Mike Huston expressed enthusiasm for the project, saying the creation of TIF districts is “about the only economic development tool that a town can have that it can control.”

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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