CANTON – Two homeowners won’t have to worry about rising waters in the village anymore after selling their properties Friday morning.
The homes of Joyce Wing on the Laplant Road and Wanda DePalma and her family at 77 Pleasant St., Route 108, were bought by the town as part of a long-term plan to relocate the village out of the Androscoggin River flood plain.
The homes were the first of 65 eligible houses in the flood plain that may be purchased, then razed or moved when sufficient funding becomes available.
Diane Ray, chairwoman of the Special Projects Committee, said the town has already received about $700,000 in Community Development Block Grant or Federal Emergency Management Agency grants that will enable the buyout of 10 homes. She said she expects five more buyouts to be completed by the end of the summer.
Although Wing raised her family at the Laplant Road home and has lived there for more than 50 years, she said she’s pleased to have had the chance to move.
“I’m glad to get out of the flood plain. We’ve been flooded at least twice,” she said. “It’s working out for me.”
She recently moved into a mobile home next door to her daughter Kim’s home along Route 108.
And although Kim said the loss of her childhood home is less than pleasant, she’s glad her mother doesn’t have to go through more flooding.
The Laplant Road home will likely be used by the Canton Fire Department for training, Ray said.
The DePalma home will be demolished, Ray said. The family is building another in Carthage.
The 1.4 acres for the DePalma home and 1.7 acres with the Wing home will likely become a part of a trail, or part of a nature or wetlands system, Ray said.
She said every home considered for removal has been or will be independently appraised, and homeowners will be paid the fair market value.
Friday’s real estate closings are the beginning of what may be a four-year project to remove homes in the flood plain and relocate the village center to higher ground. Owners of property in the flood plain are not required to sell, Ray said.
The town’s low-lying areas have been subject to frequent flooding by the Androscoggin River or Whitney Brook throughout the years, with millions of dollars of damage resulting from the most recent flood in 2003.
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