LEWISTON — Work spraying to prevent mold in the Grand Trunk Railroad depot building could begin Tuesday, pending a public hearing Monday night in Lewiston City Hall.

Lincoln Jeffers, Lewiston’s director of economic and community development, said residents will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal to give the Lewiston Auburn Railroad Co. a $5,100 federal environmental grant through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields program.

The money would pay Auburn’s Atlantic Environmental Services to spray disinfectant in the basement and make sure the depot building is free of mold.

“It’s a formality associated with the EPA’s grant process,” Jeffers said. “It will be me and any public that wants to come.”

The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the city’s Administrator Conference Room on the basement floor of Lewiston City Hall, behind the City Council Chambers.

That cleanup is considered to be the final hurdle in an effort to lease the building to an unknown buyer who plans to build a cafe there. She has created a website for the property at grandtrunkcafe.com.

The renovation project, targeting one of the most historic structures in the city, was announced in 2010. Renovations began in September and it involved installing new water, sewer and natural gas lines as well as a new heating and air conditioning system.

The work so far has cost about $380,000, paid for with a $200,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and $115,800 of Lewiston’s Community Development Block Grant allocation. The railroad itself has paid for the rest of the work.

Work wrapped up in January, but two large puddles of water were discovered in the basement this spring. One was blamed on heavy rains leaking through part of the outside sidewalk and the second on a faulty a valve on the building’s basement fire sprinkler system.

The building was tested for mold and none was found, but railroad officials agreed to disinfect the building further if they could get the EPA grant.

Brownfields grants are designed to help clean up property that is perceived to be environmentally hazardous and the city has used the money to pay for work at the Bates Mill and the Camden Yarn Mill, proposed site of the new Museum L-A.

The depot has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. It was built in 1874, renovated in 1899 and served as the landing spot for many of Lewiston-Auburn’s Canadian immigrants for many years.

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