WATERVILLE — The City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider awarding a $282,809 contract to a company to oversee the $11.2 million BUILD grant construction project to convert Main and Front streets downtown to two-way, improve intersections and reconstruct sidewalks and public spaces.
The public may watch the 7 p.m. meeting via a link to the city’s website. To take part in the meeting, people must contact the city clerk’s office by 5 p.m. Tuesday to receive a login or call-in credentials. An executive session will be held at 6:15 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter.
The council Tuesday is also slated to take final votes on whether to change rules for keeping chickens, adopt new rules for short-term residential rentals and approve a zone change on North Street to enable construction of a community ice rink.
Front Street below the Lockwood Hotel construction site in Waterville on April 15 with the Arts Collaborative in the back left. The Waterville City Council will vote on an overseer for the BUILD project that will transform Main and Front streets into two-way thoroughfares. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel Buy this Photo
Also, councilors will be asked to take final votes to remove Colby College-owned properties from the existing downtown tax increment financing district and place them in a new TIF district.
The council will consider awarding a $282,809 contract to Kleinfelder Construction Services to oversee construction during the 18- to 24-month term of the BUILD grant project.
BUILD project work is scheduled to begin in March. The total BUILD project budget is $11.2 million, but the construction budget is $9.4 million, according to City Manager Michael Roy. The other $1.8 million is used for engineering, right of way and other requirements. The project has an expected completion date of November 2022, according to Roy.
The council on Dec. 1 took the first vote to change the city’s zoning ordinance to grant three requests: allow a community ice rink to be built at 132 North St.; add rules for short-term residential units to the city’s ordinance, and change the ordinance for keeping chickens from 10,000 square feet lot size to 8,000 square feet.
The Alfond Youth & Community Center and Central Maine Youth Hockey want to build a more than $4 million indoor community ice rink on city-owned property at 132 North St.
The city does not have rules for short-term residential rentals now, and the Planning Board recommends the council approve rules its members developed.
The council on Tuesday will consider reducing the lot size for keeping chickens from 10,000 square feet to 8,000 square feet. The Planning Board recommended the council change the rule. Pleasantdale Avenue resident Phil Bofia requested changes be made because he said he thinks the city’s chicken rules were too restrictive.
Regarding the TIF issue, the council Dec. 1 voted to amend the current downtown TIF district and related development program by removing the three properties from that district. They also voted to create a new district and place the properties in that new district. The properties to be removed and placed in the new district are 93 Main St., the site of the future Paul J. Schupf Art Center; 9 Main St., where the Lockwood Hotel is located; and 20 Main St., the former Waterville Hardware property and future Arts Collaborative.
Tax increment financing is a program that allows cities and towns to shield new value from development from calculations to preserve the amount of state aid for education and revenue sharing they receive from state government and county tax assessments. The program helps to save residents money.
While the three properties to be removed from the downtown district are owned by Colby College, the TIF district doesn’t have anything to do with Colby, and Colby will realize no benefit from the city’s actions, according to Roy.
The current TIF district expires in 15 years, and placing the properties in a new 30-year district extends the TIF period for the properties by 15 years.
The TIF, he said, would allow the city to capture the tax revenues from those three buildings and have that money dedicated to certain needs in the downtown area.
In other matters Tuesday, the council will consider a resolution providing for mutual aid for public works services with the towns of Winslow, Fairfield and Oakland. The council also will consider confirming the nomination of Uria Pelletier to serve on the Planning Board, with a term to expire in 2023.
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