FARMINGTON — Since installation of natural gas lines along Route 2 doesn’t appear likely anytime soon, the Board of Selectmen agreed Tuesday to seek dates from the Maine Department of Transportation for work on the road.

Board members Josh Bell, Michael Fogg and Andy Buckland asked Town Manager Richard Davis to check with MDOT for dates in 2015, he said.

The project would involve grinding pavement and repaving a stretch on the road, also known as Wilton Road, from Franklin Memorial Hospital to Center Bridge, he said Wednesday.

In August, the board favored delaying the state work to give the gas line project a chance to develop. 

Summit Natural Gas recently notified the University of Maine at Farmington that its is unable to commit to putting in gas lines from Jay to Farmington in 2016.

The board agreed the work needs to be done, Davis said. Because Wilton Road is in an urban compact zone, the town is responsible for routine maintenance. This spring, a town crew was patching the road nearly every day at a cost of about $21,000 extra for the Public Works Department, he previously told the board.

In other business, the board learned the town is not eligible for a Community Development Block Grant to complete sidewalks and lighting on Front Street.

The Downtown Tax Increment Financing Advisory Committee met earlier this month and made three recommendations for the board to consider.

The board wants Davis to continue on the other two recommendations. They include seeking requests for proposals for engineering from Front Street through to West Farmington using the same style of amenities to tie the two together and to get an update on the cost analysis for a pedestrian bridge across the Sandy River, he said.

In discussions with the Department of Economic Community Development following the TIF Advisory Committee meeting, Planning Assistant Cindy Gelinas learned the town was ineligible for the CDBG Downtown Revitalization funds as previously thought.

The department has reduced the town’s low- and moderate-income benefit from 51.9 percent to 41.77 percent, based on the American Community Survey rather than the 2010 U.S. Census. To receive CDBG funds from the Downtown Revitalization, a town needs a 51 percent low- and moderate-income rating, according to information supplied to the board by Gelinas.

abryant@sunjournal.com