State bond issue may help boost local downtowns
BY MATTHEW STONE
Staff Writer
Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel: March 10, 2009
Augusta secured part of a $495,000 grant last December to add to its riverfront area.
In 2010, the city might be able to secure additional funds -- this time aimed at downtown revitalization -- if a $27 million bond package earns approval from legislators and voters.
A coalition of community development groups and leaders of the Maine Senate are pushing the $27 million package -- called the Communities for Maine's Future Act -- to set aside funds specifically for downtown revitalization.
"We're basically pitching it as an economic stimulus for Maine's downtowns," said Christian McNeil of GrowSmart Maine, a nonprofit group pushing the bond package.
The package would make $25 million in grant money available to towns and cities of any size that submit qualifying grant applications. The bond proposal provides for a seven-member panel charged with reviewing grant applications and awarding money competitively.
The remaining $2 million would be earmarked for nonprofit groups trying to protect historically significant buildings while towns and cities await developers who want to rehabilitate them.
"It'd be a great resource to have," Augusta Development Director Michael Duguay said. "I wish it would have happened a few years earlier."
Augusta has sought developers in recent years to rehabilitate the former Kennebec Valley YMCA building on Winthrop Street and the Cony High School flatiron building on Cony Circle.
"It's part of what we've been talking about for years in the development community, talking about special places that make Maine Maine," Duguay said. "We've been sort of out here trying to figure out how to put dollars into the downtown. There's not much available."
In Waterville, an infusion of grant money to refurbish the city's infrastructure would be welcome, said Shannon Haines, executive director of Waterville Main Street. Waterville also could pour grant money into renovation projects at the city's opera house and its public library.
"There's a huge amount that communities want to do to revitalize their city centers or downtowns," Haines said.
Cities and towns applying for downtown development funds, according to the bond proposal, would have to raise $1 locally -- from public or private sources -- for every dollar of grant money.
"I think, frankly, that makes a lot of sense," Haines said. "Communities need to be investing in their downtowns themselves, but sometimes they don't have enough resources to make the full investment."
The Communities for Maine's Future Act is one of more than 30 bond proposals headed before the Legislature this session, including Gov. John Baldacci's $306 million borrowing plan.
Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, sponsor of the downtown projects bond package, said the proposal is not necessarily a competitor to Baldacci's plan. The plans share job creation as a priority, she said, and Baldacci's bond proposal earmarks $2 million to protect endangered historic buildings, as does Mitchell's.
"What we would have to do is go to the table and talk about how this could be considered a part of that package," said Mitchell, a Vassalboro Democrat.
David Farmer, Baldacci's deputy chief of staff, called the governor's bond package a "balanced investment strategy" but indicated Baldacci would be willing to consider elements of legislator-sponsored bonding plans.
"There are a number of good bond ideas that have been presented by the Legislature, but the governor put forward this package in the context of what he believes is the right amount overall and the right mix of priorities," Farmer said. "He will be working with the Legislature moving forward, to arrive at a final bond package that can win two-thirds support in the Legislature."
Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435
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