By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – A planned road development fee for outer Lisbon Street expansions sounds workable for Allen Austin, assistant pastor at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Lewiston.

He just wants to know what he’s going to end up paying for a big expansion of the 9 Foss Road church.

“I’m actually pretty happy with the way this is all working out,” Austin said. “But there is just a little uncertainty at his point.”

The church could be the first outer Lisbon Street development to pay an impact fee for work on Lisbon Street. Councilors passed the fee on first reading Tuesday. They’ll look at it a final time at the Oct. 18 meeting.

Developers could pay 5 percent of what they would have had to spend to meet state Department of Transportation requirements for new developments.

The council proposed the fee in August to help pay for future expansion of Lisbon Street. Developer Nino Naous, who is building a convenience store at 1930 Lisbon Road, will pay for restriping from the Lisbon town line to Maine Turnpike bridge over the street. That will convert Lisbon Street to three lanes from the Lisbon town line to the Turnpike overpass.

The new fee will pay for future expansion of the street, which could cost the city up to $1 million.

It’s a fair deal, said City Administrator Jim Bennett. Instead of $10,000 for road improvements that could be mandated by the state, developers might end up paying $500.

“Think of it as a minimal investment the church and your members will make to improve safety for yourselves,” Bennett told Austin.

The church is proposing to build a 1,000-seat auditorium.

“Any fee, any addition that makes a project like this more expensive, does make it tougher,” Austin said.

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