Hire a municipal marketing specialist. Expand the downtown waterfront trail. Work on a business incubation center. Develop new housing for workers and seniors. And take on residential blight and vacant lots in town.
Bucksport has 41 economic development goals it wants to fulfill over the next five years. Councilors agreed to the list last week, setting the goals as the town continues to recover from the loss of about 570 jobs when the Verso Paper mill closed in late 2014.
The launch of a Maine Maritime Academy training annex and the start of construction of a $180 million fish farm are big-ticket, development items expected in 2020 — both at the former paper mill site. Some of the goals on the list anticipate those developments will create more demand for housing and for child care.
To that end, one goal for the town is to recruit child care providers to town and help them find locations where they can set up shop. Another is to see through a handful of housing development projects.
For instance, Community and Economic Development Director Richard Rotella and other town officials will meet Tuesday with a developer, whom Rotella declined to name, who intends to build up to 15 housing units on 33 acres owned by paper mill site owner American Iron and Metal near Drakes Lane. The project has been in development for more than a year, he said.
Another project in the works that would bring more housing to Bucksport is the extension of two downtown streets, Park Street and Broadway, creating more room for housing close to downtown businesses.
The Planning Board formally approved the Park Street project in May. And the town has set aside $250,000 to extend Broadway to meet Park Street. Broadway runs parallel to Route 1, or Main Street, while Park Street runs perpendicular to Main Street and connects with it near a Subway and McDonald’s restaurants.
Rotella is also working with a developer of a senior living mobile home park that could be finished or open as early as this spring, he said.
Also on the town’s list of economic development goals is to create an inventory of vacant, condemned and foreclosed homes so the town has information it needs to take on residential blight and encourage the development of vacant lots.
Other goals include converting street lights to LEDs, reviewing town codes to see if they can be changed to encourage more housing development and replacing faltering retaining walls along Main Street.
Rotella said he hopes grants can pay for many of the undertakings on the list, preventing the need to raise property tax rates to pay for them.