NORWAY – A town committee has started the process of awarding grants to residents who want to fix up the front of their buildings.

The pot is $125,000 and will be meted out in sums no greater than $25,000. Building owners must match the grant.

So far, the town has only received five applications, Marcy Boughter said. Of those, three have been preliminarily approved: Books ‘n’ Things at 430 Main St., the Masonic Building on Cottage Street owned by Debi Irons and the Beal Building at 331 Main St.

Boughter, who works for Enterprise Maine, is overseeing a $500,000 community development block grant given to the town last year that was initially slated to rehabilitate the old C.B. Cummings Mill.

When the mill was bought by private investors, that money was redirected to the town. After public hearings, townspeople and officials decided to spend the money on building two parks in town, one on Water Street and the other next to Pennesseewassee Stream behind the Opera House.

The rest of the money was channeled into the facade program, which has helped building owners in the past spruce up their storefronts and improve the overall appearance of the downtown. Dennis Gray, who is part of the selection committee, said about a dozen buildings have been helped by the grant in years past.

The program was previously administered by former town employee Deborah Wyman, who has been indicted on a felony count of stealing funds from the town. Boughter said the facade program has been altered to prevent any chance of embezzlement.

“The state got tighter on its requirements,” Boughter said.

She will collect all the receipts for work done to facades and send them to officials at the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development before anyone can be reimbursed by the town.

Boughter is encouraging other building owners to apply for money, even if they are not located downtown. A commercial business needs to be located in the building, however, and the owners must also convince the town that their building is shabby enough to be considered “spot blight.”

Because the original CDBG grant was meant for the town’s slum and blight district in the downtown, it must only be used for that way.

But this is a nominal distinction. Boughter said building owners just have to show how their building could stand some improvement.