Schools, I-395 among Brewer issues

BREWER, Maine — Extending a moratorium on methadone clinics, what to do with four school buildings once a new school opens, the Interstate 395-Route 9 connector, stimulus funding and the Brewer-Orrington business park top the list of items city councilors will discuss tonight.

The Brewer City Council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

A discussion about what to do with the four school buildings that will be left vacant once the new multimillion-dollar pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school opens in 2011 will be held during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Brewer Housing Authority personnel already have expressed interest in acquiring one of the buildings to create affordable housing for senior citizens. The new school on Parkway South will replace Capri Street School, State Street School, Washington Street School and Brewer Middle School, which were all built more than 50 years ago.

Once the buildings are vacated, they become the property of the city.

Next on the agenda for councilors is a recommendation to the Maine Department of Transportation about the proposed I-395-Route 9 connector, designed to alleviate heavy truck traffic between the Canadian Maritimes and the interstate highway system.

The recommendation “reiterates [the city’s] endorsement of option 3Eik-2 (known as the Ring Route)” and that “if there were to be a successful change in the federal weight limit, a connector to Route 178 should be explored.”

City councilors enacted a 180-day moratorium on methadone clinics in August and at the December meeting discussed whether an additional 180 days was needed.

Six city staffers who sit on the methadone treatment facilities ordinance committee are reviewing the city’s land use code to see whether regulations need to be added concerning where clinics may locate, their size and governance, and more time is needed, they say.

City Solicitor Joel Dearborn, Police Chief Perry Antone, City Councilor Archie Verow, City Manager Steve Bost, City Planner Linda Johns and Code Enforcement Officer David Russell sit on the committee.

The final two big issues councilors will discuss tonight involve federal stimulus funding.

Brewer has “four high-priority projects that currently lack adequate funding” and since “the federal government has indicated the potential availability of substantial funding for infrastructure and job creation projects through an economic stimulus package” the city is planning to apply for funding.

The four projects are: the Brewer-Orrington Business and Commercial Park, Water Pollution Control Facility shoreline stabilization, the historic waterfront trail and City Hall renovations.

The federal stimulus funding, which requires “shovel-ready” projects, is why councilors will consider contracting for a final design and starting the permitting process for the Brewer-Orrington Business and Commercial Park.

Those steps will make the application for the funding more competitive, the order states.

After years of work, the two neighboring communities signed an interlocal agreement in April 2007 to create the business park, which is located at the end of Green Point Road and extends into Orrington.

The business park, when complete, will be jointly developed, marketed, owned and operated by both Brewer and Orrington.