FARMINGTON — The Board of Selectmen agreed Tuesday to back off from connecting the town Community Center to a proposed central heating plant at the University of Maine at Farmington.
“It was nice of the university to make the offer,” Town Manager Richard Davis said.
While the university is seeking permits for its project, it offered the town the opportunity because of the proximity of the Community Center to the proposed biomass heating plant at Quebec and Perkins streets.
UMF brought the plan before the Planning Board this month, he said. A public hearing on it will be held at its March meeting.
During the Planning Board meeting, residents on Quebec Street questioned truck deliveries of wood chips, the aesthetics of the plant and whether it was allowable in a residential zone, Davis said.
After the meeting, Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser sought counsel from the town’s attorney, Frank Underkuffler.
Underkuffler said the university as a whole is in essence one premise, one lot devoted to educational use.
The heating plant would be considered a part of the campus’ normal operations, Davis said.
It would fall under public school, according to the town’s zoning ordinance, Underkuffler wrote in his explanation.
“That makes the proposed biomass heating plant a use and structure accessory to public education and the buildings that are used to accomplish that, and therefore, a use and structure that is permitted in the village residential district,” he wrote.
But Underkuffler also indicated that if UMF was to provide heat to off-campus buildings, it would be more like a public utility and not just for campus use, Davis said.
Construction of the 5,000-square-foot, plant on Quebec Street is expected to provide heat by underground water distribution to 28 buildings on campus.
Selectman Michael Fogg said he was concerned about raising the estimated $90,000 for the connection to the plant anyway. He thought support of the town was necessary before making that decision.
The oil system at the Community Center is antiquated but the board may want to consider a pellet boiler in a few years,
Davis said. The board listened to a presentation on the pellet systems at their last meeting.
abryant@sunmediagroup.net
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