Buckfield seeks public input on municipal landscaping project

BUCKFIELD — Town fathers have decided that the time is right to beautify their municipal grounds.  The goal, they say, is to create village grounds, with a common area, that the townsfolk can be proud of.  With this in mind, they are seeking public input on the project.

An informational meeting will be held Tuesday, April 28, in the meeting room of the Buckfield Town Office.  This meeting will start at approximately 7:15 p.m. following the conclusion of the selectmen’s regular bi-weekly meeting.

The project has its roots in a beautification plan created in February 1997 for local resident, now planning board chairman, Wes Ackley. Having contracted with an architect to create the plans, Ackley then donated the completed work to the town.

Several plans were submitted, and the one currently under primary consideration by the Selectmen includes several modifications to the current grounds.  The main component will be to expand parking by modifying the current lot and adding a new lot on the western side of the municipal building.  More than 80 spaces are planned, helping to ease parking congestion within the town.

Several residents have complained to selectmen recently that cars are parking all along Route 117, beside the road and onto the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street.  Mike Miclon, owner of the Oddfellow Theatre, in the heart of the village, has also voiced concerns over parking issues, stating that his business can bring in the town, on average, over 75 vehicles per show.

This new lot will also provide better access to the municipal building’s only handicapped entrance, located behind the building. Currently, there is no clear or easily accessible path to this entrance.

The vehicle entrance and exit to the grounds will be moved further away from the fire station, allowing better egress for emergency vehicles.

A path is to be constructed down to the recreational field behind the municipal building that will allow improved access for such rescue vehicles as may have a need to get down to that area.

The planned commons area includes designs for a gazebo, as well as a tree-lined perimeter.  Additional landscaping will be completed around the municipal building.  It is hoped that volunteer labor can be procured for the general landscaping and gazebo portions of the project in order to keep

costs down.

Beginning in 1997, the town has annually deposited $7500 in a fiduciary account towards the project.  Although money has been annually set aside, there is now a question as to whether any of Ackley’s plans were ever actually approved by the town.  Any finalized plans will need to be approved at the annual town meeting in June.

Town Manager Cynthia M. Dunn recounts how, when the town began setting funds aside, it was assumed that $50,000 would be needed to complete the project.  To date, the town has saved over $45,000 with accrued interest bringing the total funding now available to slightly over $52,000.

Selectman Oscar Gammon states that the town hopes to save money on the project by acting as the general contractor, much as it did on the recent Highway Department building recently completed by the town.

However, current estimates peg the landscaping project at roughly $159,000.  This includes an estimate by Commercial Paving Inc. of $51,500 for paving, curbing, and striping.  Moelco Electrical of Jay has estimated lighting for the area at $25,000.  Gammon and fellow selectman Lawrence “Skip” Stanley have worked up an estimate of $83,000 for excavation and drainage, including the relocation of hydrants in the current parking lot.

According to selectmen, it may be better to borrow the remaining funds needed now rather than continue setting aside funds.  It was noted at a recent workshop on the subject that construction costs are rising faster than the town’s savings, such that the town may never be able to save enough to  begin the project, given the current annual allotment of $7500. It was deemed more cost effective to pay off a loan obtained now, for current costs, rather than to continue saving towards future costs.

Dunn states that selectmen will take input from local residents at this meeting and finalize their plans.

“The plan is definitely open for adjustment,” she said, “it’s not all a done deal by any means.”

Assuming that feedback at the informational meeting is positive enough, there will be a warrant to approve the plan itself, and to borrow such funds to complete the project as voters may deem necessary.

  

Municipal officers plan for hazard mitigation

GREENWOOD — Nearly forty leaders from area communities gathered here for the March meeting of the Oxford County Municipal Officers Association to hear guest speaker Carol Fuller.

Fuller, a representative from the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments spoke on the Emergency Mitigation Plan currently being prepared for Oxford County.  This plan stems from the passage in Congress of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.

“The important thing from the perspective of all of the communities,” Fuller said, “was that they said that towns, counties, states, had to have a hazard mitigation plan in place if they were going to be able to get hazard mitigation grants or pre disaster mitigation grants.”

Fuller stated that the deadline for this voluntary compliance was November, 2004.  She stated that not having a plan would not prevent eligibility for grant money to repair damage from disasters, but was intended to provide funds to repair issues to a state “better than what you had before.”  Funds could also be used for to make capitol improvements before a disaster struck.

Under the act, funds would be made available, when the President declared a disaster, for mitigation.  Fuller gave an example of FEMA providing $1,000,000.  In this case, 15%, or another $150,000 would be made available for mitigation grants to bring infrastructures to a “better than before” state.

“In a lot of cases, what you had before would only get washed away the next time you had a flood, or had some other kind of event,” Fuller said.  “The idea behind mitigation is to take steps before there is a disaster event so that the next time hopefully you will not have damage, or your damage will be a lot lower.”

Fuller stated that seed money amounting to $360,000 had been provided to Maine to create the plans, which the State then filtered down to the counties.

Dan Schorr, Emergency Management Agency Director for Oxford County, explained how the emergency planning had fallen to AVCOG.

“What we did is initially, not knowing about AVCOG, we decided that my office, we didn’t have the time to write county wide plans.  The initial idea was, those towns that wanted to participate, and write their own, we would provide the grant money top do it.  That was about two years ago now.

“That went along fine until everybody started sitting down trying to do the work.  And then they said, ‘Hey I can’t do this, I need help.’  So then we said ‘OK, we’ll go to AVCOG.

“So we lost a little time,” said Schorr, “but AVCOG now is doing it for the lump sum of the grant money.  The only thing we have to invest as a county, and as municipalities, is the time and the people to provide the information we need to put in the plans.”

AVCOG has been working on the plans since September 2003.

Fuller stated that, besides already having a working relationship with many of the towns in Oxford County, AVCOG had completed Emergency Mitigation plans for Androscoggin County “roughly a year ago.” 

She did acknowledge that FEMA has yet to comment on any of those completed plans or, to her knowledge, on any plans submitted from Maine.

Fuller then walked the municipal officers present through the various aspects of the emergency mitigation plans.  Significant hazards include winter storms, flooding and ice jams, dam failure, drought and wildfire, earthquakes, and hazardous materials incidents. Earthquakes actually are a medium risk Fuller said, although dam failures remain a “huge” risk for area towns, with over 80 dams in Oxford County.

Many municipal officers have expressed concerns over HAZMAT incidents due to increased over the road transport of chemicals and other hazardous materials. However, while participation by towns is not mandatory, Fuller expressed concern over the number of towns from which she had received no participatory input on preparing their mitigation plans.

“This is where some of you people still need to help us,” she said.

Although they will remain eligible for normal disaster funds, towns that do not provide information to AVCOG and adopt a mitigation plan will not be eligible for any additional mitigation grants.  It was again stressed that these mitigation grants could be used to make capitol improvements before some disaster struck, and/or to repair damages to a “better than before” state.