Big, quick

challenges

in Lewiston

The challenges before the sitting Lewiston City Council seem to grow by the day.

Having five new faces on the seven-member board was already expected to require a getting-to-know-you period, but that has been complicated by the impact of lost state revenue, dealing with stalled development during this recession, parking garages, Bates Mill No. 5 and the possibility of a casino in the heart of downtown.

Overcoming just a few of those obstacles successfully over several terms would make a politician’s career. Needing to find solutions to all of them in their first term is something altogether different.

The key for the elected leaders, and the community they represent, may be to focus on where they can have meaningful influence. For example, convincing the state legislature to restore revenue sharing to its projected levels, in this fiscal environment, are long odds that aren’t worth betting on.

Of course, Bates Mill No. 5, the parking garage proposed for Lincoln Street and the casino all popped up on the radar for the previous sitting Council, creating an interesting situation. If the sitting City Councilors change any of those decisions is it playing Monday morning quarterback or taking advantage of a window of opportunity that may not present itself again? Either way, they are three issues they still sit in the driver’s seat on.

This scenario begs the question of what the city’s plan for downtown is. However, the time for significant planning is not now, and definitely not on this eight-acre site. It is time for action and decisions based on the best information available

The parking garage, which has been at the center of heated debate, is part of a mandate included in the City’s exit strategy with the Bates Mill. Love it or hate it, the City Council voted to certain conditions that set the stage for private investment by a local developer and his partners.

To seek to bend this agreement may be an attempt at a short-term fix but will only end up as a negative signal to other potential developers.

As designed, phase one of the garage would sit on Lincoln Street and its construction would protect sight lines to Mill No. 5 crossing the bridge and from Mill No. 5 back to the river and downtown Auburn. All things considered, it is likely the most reasonable approach that could advance other projects on the site.

The debate over the parking garage’s location began with the previous Council’s concern of what to do with a cleared Mill No. 5 lot. With information they were armed with by a previous administration, namely that Mill No. 5 cost the City hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in subsidy, they moved to stop the perceived bleeding.

Unfortunately, the conditions under which Mill No. 5 was pushed to be demolished may not have been accurately depicted.

In 2007, the City needed to subsidize the Lewiston Mill Redevelopment Corporation (LMRC) for its operations of both Mill No. 5 and the Steam Plant. The City has played this role for years, ever since it took over the entire Bates Mill complex. Those subsidies, as parts of the mill were privatized, continued to decline with most of the costs dealing with heating the entire Bates Mill.

In fact, for fiscal year 2009, the year the City Council voted for demolition because of the massive subsidy it reported Mill No. 5 required, LRMC actually closed the year at about break even. So the rationale for demolition, that Mill No. 5 was costing hundreds of thousands of dollars no longer applied, yet the vote for demolition advanced anyway.

The second argument, that no developer would be interested in the property, has changed. A request for proposals sent out in 2008 yielded little fruit as we moved off the cliff into this recession. Yet today, option language that the City Council has approved will be sent to voters in June to allow the development of that site into a casino.

While some may try to argue that Mill No. 5 is an eyesore blocking the landscape, experts in the field of architecture and historic preservation, both in Maine and nationally, have recognized it as a potential showpiece. The restoration of the mill could bring not only economic energy to Lewiston but significant national goodwill and positive news attention.

Add to that the federal and state tax credits available to any private developer that would seek to rehab the building, and it could truly be a game changer.

At up to 45 percent (20 percent federal and 25 percent state), this tax credit could be a major financial advantage to a large project downtown. With estimates of a $150 million facility shared by those advocating for a casino, that incentive is impossible to ignore.

The politics of casinos aside, if successful in gathering signatures, the campaign for a Lewiston casino will coincide with the re-election of the current City Council in November 2011 and could become a referendum on more than just the casino.

The legacy of this Council will be its leadership on these issues.