FARMINGTON — Selectmen have approved applying for Community Development Block Grants for improvement projects in the downtown area and Meetinghouse Park.

Each project carries a 20 percent match from the town.

The board unanimously approved seeking $150,000 for a Community Enterprise project to repair 20 decorative light-pole bases on Main and Broadway and to build new sidewalks on Front and Pleasant streets. The project would include some repaving of those streets in 2011 and 2012.

A second public facilities project application for up to $50,000 in CDBG funds was approved by a vote of 4-1. Selectman Nancy Porter dissented because she was concerned about altering the appearance of the historic gazebo in Meetinghouse Park.

The project includes making the park more inviting, improving handicap access to and through the park, and installing of a ramp for access to the gazebo.

The projects were initiated by the Farmington Downtown Association Design Committee for improvements to the downtown area, Town Manager Richard Davis said.

Porter didn’t object to curb cuts installed at the crosswalk at the main entrance to the park on Main Street for better access to the park or the installation of a ramp in the middle of the split level park to help connect access to both levels.

Her concerns centered on a proposed plan for another ramp creating access to the gazebo by wrapping halfway around the exterior wall to the bandstand entrance, changing the appearance of the historic structure built in 1928.

Why spend money on the gazebo, a small space that could only handle four to five wheelchairs? she asked. She also said “taxpayers should not have to pay for it.”

Musical performers who use the park and are in wheelchairs should have access, Davis said.

“It’s the right thing to do … we’re morally and ethically responsible to provide access where we can,” he said.

The plan includes “construction and landscaping that blends with the historic architecture.”

Davis referred to added concrete ramps at the Community Center built in 1941 or the Farmington Post Office built in 1936 that have blended in with the buildings over time. The proposed gazebo ramp would be more appealing than the concrete ones, and the intent would be to add the ramp without altering the appearance of the structure any more than necessary.

Ramp constructions can be done to look as though they were part of the original architecture, Selectman Andrew Hufnagel said, referring to his construction experiences.

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