VAN BUREN, Maine — Van Buren is moving toward the engineering phase of the Maine Department of Transportation’s Village Partnership Initiative project, which involves revitalizing the town’s village center and downtown area.
Towns involved in the project are responsible for 10 percent of the total costs, with 90 percent covered via state and federal funding.
Town Manager Luke Dyer said during a recent public hearing on the project that Van Buren has not had an opportunity like this since the mid-1990s, roughly 30 years ago.
Maine DOT is also asking Madawaska and Fort Kent — two other St. John Valley communities involved in the Village Partnership Initiative — to make a similar commitment. If all three commit to the project, Maine DOT will have a greater chance of receiving grant funding to pay for engineering in the three northern Maine communities.
Town Councilors on Feb. 5 voted to move forward with engineering by agreeing to commit up to $150,000 if Maine DOT secures grant funding.
“What we’re saying is we will commit to this amount of money if they get the grant,” Dyer said. “Then we’ll have a meeting to appropriate the money.”
Feedback from residents included concerns about how curb extensions called bump-outs and additional trees along some roads could affect winter road maintenance. The bump-outs could be tapered and the number of trees could also be reduced, said Maine DOT Regional Planner Jarod Farn-Guillette.
Another change made to the project, based on public feedback, was the decision not to add a roundabout at the State Street and Main Street intersection, which is where motorists enter the town when driving north from Caribou on Route 1. DOT officials agreed to consider installing flashing stop signs instead.
The town is receiving a $65,000 reimbursement for monies used for design work on the project, Dyer said. The money would be applied toward the $150,000, meaning that officials would be asking for, at most, $85,000 in funding.
“It could be less,” he said, “because we could find other grants to cover some of this as well.”
The engineering would also only be $150,000 if the town goes with the original plan as presented, he said. The project as presented was about $15 million altogether, but he and officials are looking into reducing the scope of the project.
“We can do it piece by piece to save us a little money,” Dyer said.
Money invested into other projects in the Village Partnership area, such as the work being done at Grant Street Park to create a community garden and to harvest honey, will also go toward the town’s contribution to the overall project.
