OXFORD – Future uses for the vacant Robinson Manufacturing plant will be discussed by selectmen Thursday. The meeting gets under way at 6:30 p.m. at the Oxford Public Safety Building on Route 26.

Selectmen will hold a public hearing on some preliminary ideas on how to use the 150-year-old woolen mill in the village center.

To see what ideas are viable, the Growth Council of Oxford Hills is seeking permission from selectmen to apply for a $10,000 planning grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

Growth Council Vice President Barb Olson has discussed possible uses with mill owner Joe Robinson and DECD officials and will present them Thursday.

Town Manager Michael Huston said the planning grants are highly competitive. The money can’t be used to do the actual work “but may be used to help figure out what can be done.”

Huston said selectmen must approve the go-ahead for the application, and would probably hold a second public hearing once the application is completed.

Robinson Manufacturing was the last surviving woolen textile mill in Maine when it announced it was closing in July 2003.