LEWISTON – A planning session tentatively set for Jan. 22 could determine the fate of the city’s Heritage Initiative, which includes a proposal to replace several downtown tenements with townhouses and a boulevard.

Officials postponed a meeting set for Jan. 8 when downtown residents and social service agency representatives objected to the timing.

“There were just too many problems with that date,” said Visible Community member Jake Grindle said. “The week after New Year’s Day is not a good time to plan something like that. We need more time to get people out.”

The Jan. 22 date is a compromise, said City Administrator Jim Bennett. “It should give us enough time to get the feedback from the community. That’s what we’ve been after all along.”

He and other officials will meet with residents of the city’s poorest neighborhood to discuss future development and planning for the area.

Community based

The public meeting will be used to draw up a five-year plan that shows how the city will spend federal block grant money through 2009. The first draft of the plan is due Feb. 8.

“This gives us two weeks to write the plan,” Bennett said. “We’ll be squeezed, but we should be able to make it work.”

The bulk of Lewiston’s Community Development Block Grant money in the past has been devoted to redeveloping the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex. It amounts to between $500,000 and $750,000 per year. The money could be used for economic development or to develop affordable housing in other parts of Lewiston, he said.

Controversial plan

The city unveiled the Heritage Initiative in June 2004. It is a 10-year conceptual plan aimed at cleaning up the city’s poorest, most crowded neighborhoods by replacing rundown tenement buildings with townhouses, parks and a boulevard. Residents accused city officials of wanting to force poor people out of the downtown, however

Neighborhood people and social service representatives began meeting in August. They sponsored four community meetings last fall and they plan to continue working with neighbors and the city, according to Visible Community representatives.

Bennett said he hoped the process would culminate with the Jan. 8 planning forum and a block grant plan. The final plan must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by May 13.