OXFORD – The companies the town hired with grant money in April to look into future uses for the vacant Robinson Manufacturing Co. woolen mill will issue a joint conclusion within the next two weeks.
“The conclusion will represent a combination of development possibilities residents have expressed interest in and what is actually feasible” for the mill, Town Manager Michael Chammings said Tuesday afternoon.
The mill stopped manufacturing woolen goods in 2003.
Representatives from four firms have presented development alternatives to a handful of residents at two public forums this month. Turnout for both meetings was low, Chammings said, but there was a consensus among those present that downtown Oxford would be best served by a redeveloped mill with a variety of uses, from residential to light industrial to commercial.
“I think they want to see a mixed use in there and have the village pick back up a little,” Chammings said.
The town was awarded a $10,000 Community Development Block Grant by the state Department of Economic and Community Development to explore redevelopment uses for the mill last December. So far, it has paid more than $3,000 to Aquarion Engineering Services of Portland. Aquarion has put together a team of redevelopment experts that includes Port City architecture of Portland, Richardson and Associates landscape architects of Saco, Pierce Atwood Consulting of Portland and itself.
The Robinson family, which owns the mill property, contributed $3,000 to the study, and the town’s Economic Development Committee gave $2,000, Chammings said, bringing the total for exploring future uses of the mill to $15,000.
Chammings said there are three interconnected parts to the study being undertaken by the firms:
• Transforming Robinson Mill into a viable presence in the town again.
• Conducting an analysis of the town office building to decide whether to upgrade the building or move the offices to another location, possibly the renovated mill.
• Evaluating the wastewater treatment plant at the mill and determining whether it can be upgraded to serve the village area.
“The town is trying to collect information from the companies to make an educated decision on these things,” Chammings said. He added that the firms’ “job is to find out what’s possible and find out what the people want and how feasible that is.”
The next step, Chammings said, “is to make the mill as marketable as possible and get interested parties in here to look at plans to see if that’s something they’d want to invest in.”
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