LINCOLN, Maine — Town leaders have placed a $1.8 million road-widening project on the November ballot and delayed for a week the pursuit of an agreement to move the town office to Fleming Street, officials said Tuesday.
The Town Council voted 7-0 on Monday to allow voters to decide Nov. 4 whether to commit $1.2 million of the $1.8 million needed to construct a center turning lane on West Broadway from the Hannaford Supermarket lot to Penobscot Valley Avenue and River Road. The Maine Department of Transportation would pay the rest if voters approve the plan, said Ruth Birtz, the town’s economic development coordinator.
Councilors were due to vote on whether to sign a memorandum of understanding with developer Sterling Osgood on his proposal to build a new town office on Fleming Street by next summer. They agreed to delay the meeting for a week after the legality of the Aug. 25 meeting — at which they voted 5-1 to approve the agreement — was questioned by Councilor Dede Trask, who missed the meeting because she was on vacation.
Trask said Monday that according to the Town Charter, public hearings for ordinances need seven days’ advance notice, not the five given prior to Aug. 25. Chairman Steve Clay then consulted with the town’s attorney, Andrew Hamilton, who said that the memorandum vote was not an ordinance, so the charter stipulation did not apply, Clay said.
Councilors still agreed to the delay to clear up confusion regarding the proposed move. They saw the delay as a demonstration of good faith to residents at the meeting who questioned the council’s integrity in pursuing the deal with Osgood, Clay said.
“I think the fact that we voted on it in August and the next day he [Osgood] was down working on the lot gave that appearance that there was a deal struck before the Aug. 25 meeting. There was not,” Clay said Tuesday. “We cannot control what he does. It’s his lot, his equipment.”
Osgood stopped work a few days later. Also known as letters of intent, memorandums of understanding are agreements wherein parties agree to work toward common goals. In this case, it would not bind the town to moving into a building with Osgood or make the town responsible for the building, Clay said.
“We felt that there was enough confusion that we are saying that, look, we didn’t do anything wrong at the Aug. 25 meeting, but in good faith we will hold a public forum on Monday,” Clay said.
Clay said he also allowed about 2½ hours of very free — and sometimes acrimonious — discussion of the proposed Fleming Street move at Monday’s meeting to allow residents to vent their concerns and ask questions. Held at Mattanawcook Academy, about 80 people attended.
Osgood’s building must get planning board and building code approval, the town must amend the downtown Tax Increment Financing agreement to include the proposed town office, and both sides must make a lease agreement before the move from 63 Main St. can occur, Birtz said.
Councilors are pursuing the town office relocation and road-widening with the understanding that neither would increase taxes or the town budget. Funds accrued from the TIF deals with Lincoln Paper and Tissue LLC and the Rollins Mountain wind project would pay the lease and the town’s portion of the road-widening bill, Birtz said.
One of the state’s leading economic development tools, TIF agreements allow businesses within TIF districts to keep the real estate taxes they would pay the state provided they share a percentage of them with the town hosting the district. Towns must, however, devote the TIF funds to economic development activities, Birtz said.
Under the 60-40 splits with Lincoln Paper and Tissue and Rollins Wind, Lincoln retains $270,000 annually and about $500,000 annually, respectively, for economic development activities. Road-widenings and town government leases to private landlords are considered economic development activities under the TIF law, Birtz said.
No agenda has been set for next week’s special meeting. The Lincoln Lakes Chamber of Commerce, which supports the road-widening proposal, will hold several informational meetings about it to give residents a chance to learn more about it, Birtz said.