FARMINGTON – A proposed Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington will come before the Appeals Board as engineers seek a setback variance.

The board will meet at 6:30 p.m. March 18 to consider reducing the minimum 10 foot side setback required in the village/residential zone to 4 feet to allow construction of the center, which would be attached to Alumni Theater.

The variance is needed for the east side of Alumni Theater closest to the property line abutting the Farmington Public Library before the university can bring its plans before the town’s Planning Board, said Steve Kaiser, code enforcement officer.

“If everything falls into place, we’ll try to break ground early summer of this year,” said Robert Lawrence, director of facilities management at UMF. “We’ve accepted an interior layout and have a general idea of what the building would look like but if the footprint is not accepted, we’ll have to change the design.”

The $5 million project would be paid with an anonymous donation, he said. A plan with a front side on Main Street was revealed in 2007. That plan has been adjusted for a proposed entrance from Academy Street and a lawn area included between the center and Main Street.

The center was named for Theodore and Marguerite Emery. He was a UMF faculty member, vice president for academic affairs and interim president, and she taught at the university.

Along with several multi-purpose spaces, the facility would have a 100-seat theater for art performances. The center is planned to compliment Alumni Theater and Nordica Auditorium with the donor’s intention that it serve UMF, town and local artists and art organizations.

The setback variance is needed to allow the building’s wall to extend past the northeast corner of Alumni Theater.

While other sites on campus for the center have been studied, attaching it to Alumni Theater allows for cross programming and use of shared facilities such as dressing rooms.

Abutters have been notified of the meeting.