A reduction in Damariscotta’s waterfront improvement plans made by the project’s funding authority is unlikely to be appealed due to timelines.
In other downtown plans, main crosswalks have been repainted. The town’s select board discussed these developments and heard updates on road improvement work at its Wednesday, June 7 meeting.
Town Manager Andy Dorr said in May that the U.S. Economic Development Administration, which awarded Damariscotta $3 million for its waterfront improvement project in 2020, recently voted to reduce the project scope and remove about $250,000 from the grant.
Dorr said this decision was explained by the administration’s committee as the result of a close timeline on the project. The terms of the grant state that funds must be used within four years of the award with a possible fifth-year extension.
He said last month he was in discussion with the administration about the funding cuts. During his update on June 7, he said the change was likely to remain.
“My understanding is that it’s likely to stay like that unless we want to go through the committee process again, but we only have five years,” he said. “It’s a hard stop after five years from the award.”
To make that timeline, work for the project’s second phase must go out to bid this fall, he said, making a return to the committee process improbable.
Cuts to the project’s second phase include the living shoreline project, miscellaneous improvements, and sidewalks from Water Street and Taco Alley, according to Dorr.
Remaining work for the second phase consists of stormwater drainage work, a resurfacing of the parking lot, and 850 feet of deployable flood wall, which he said would cover the entire length specified in the original plans.
Another hurdle in the project encountered earlier this year, when the town discovered a transfer of the sewer lines under the parking lot to the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District was not designated in the terms of the initial grant, is nearing resolution.
Dorr said the sanitary district’s board of trustees asked for an attorney review of the documents it would submit to the administration to be added as co-recipients on the grant, particularly with liabilities. He said a meeting is scheduled with the trustees and the Economic Development Administration to review these questions.
In other project news, line striping in town took place this weekend on Main Street between the Damariscotta-Newcastle bridge and Bristol Road, planned to include 12 crosswalks and turn arrows at the Route 129 traffic light.
Dorr said the Miles Street causeway project is almost completed, and the hospital has offered three lights for installation. Egypt Road improvements are also nearly completed, he said, with some shoulder work remaining over the next two weeks.
On Belvedere Road, drainage improvements and culvert installation will be completed in the next two weeks as well.
Future road plans include ditching and drainage work, which Dorr said he hopes to structure into a three- to five-year schedule for ditch reclamation.
Board member Tom Anderson asked about the possibility of bike lanes and wider roads in town. Dorr said Maine Department of Transportation research on right-of-way acquisitions takes about a year and would need to be brought into state work plans.
Dorr also reported Rocky Run Road from Egypt to Biscay Road received a surface overlay of asphalt following an offer from Hagar Enterprises Inc., to purchase 150 tons of asphalt at cost from a state road project stalled by rain.
In other business, the board approved two cemetery deeds and maintenance contracts, one catered function application from Stone Cove Catering, and issued two quitclaim deeds on the condition recipients cover costs of the deed transfer process.
The Damariscotta Select Board next meets at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21 in the town office and online.
