FARMINGTON – Selectmen unanimously agreed Tuesday to support a request by landowners to apply for a $10,000 community development block planning grant for a project on Fairbanks Road.
Developers Buzz Davis and Bill Marceau asked selectmen apply for the grant on their behalf. The grant requires a 20 percent match by the town, but the developers said they “are committed to supplying” that themselves. The issue will need to come to the town at a special town meeting.
The project, on the 40-acre site of a former dowel mill, will be called Mill Pond Business Park. The conceptual plan shows a 12,800-square-foot building in front that would house either a restaurant or two retail businesses. There is also a 4,000-square-foot office space and 8,200 square feet that would be an assisted living facility.
The grant would provide funding for a feasibility study to determine infrastructure needs.
Although Chairman Mary Wright was at first dubious, others convinced her it was a worthwhile project.
“It’s win-win,” Selectman Charlie Murray said. “It would not only help the entire area and provide employment, it would clean up an eyesore,” he said of the abandoned lot.
After spending a long, cold night fighting a fire there, Stephan Bunker, selectman and firefighter, said he “wondered how long the site was going to languish there without any improvement.”
“It’s a nice multi-use type of project” that fits nicely with her goals, Alison Hagerstrom, executive director for Greater Franklin Development Corp. added.
Also in Fairbanks, selectmen agreed they would be willing to offer land on which the Fairbanks School is situated as collateral for a loan for the Fairbanks School Association, though they took no vote on the matter.
Cynthia Kemble told selectmen the association had received a $250,000 loan and $50,000 grant to complete renovations on the former school, where the University of Maine Cooperative Extension will eventually be housed. The group is about to launch a $105,000 capital campaign and needs a total of $405,000 to complete the building, she said. The loan has been approved but will not be completed until construction is finished, so the group is seeking a bridge loan.
Selectmen also approved, pending townspeople’s ratification, changing the group’s 20-year lease to a 40-year lease as required by the federal agency providing the loan and grant.
Other items discussed included:
• Air conditioning for the town office lobby: A motion to install a system for about $4,000 did not pass for lack of a second. Selectmen felt an expenditure like this should go through the budget process.
• Wilton Road and Bridge Street traffic island: Although the town failed to win a Gateways Grant to beautify the island, the state’s Department of Transportation said it would provide up to $2,500 for trees and plantings, according to the town’s Conservation Commission. Selectmen approved a plan that includes the planting of eight trees, evergreen shrubs and 250 perennials.
• Recognition of Town Manager Richard Davis: The Maine Town and City Management Association sent a letter to selectmen commending Davis for achieving a three-year professional certification.
• Walton Mills Dam project: Selectmen authorized Davis to proceed with a piecemeal approach to repairing the dam by spending $1,500 to $2,000 this year for an engineering study.
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