Norway to vote tonight on declaring portion of town ‘slum and blighted’

NORWAY — At a special town meeting to be held at 7:00 p.m. tonight, in the town office, Norway citizens will have the opportunity to designate a large section of their downtown area as “slum and blighted.”  However, Town Manager David Holt stresses that this classification should not be confused with any part of this area being “condemned.”

“It sounds like an ominous term,” said Holt, “but it’s just a federal term that’s necessary to apply to an area where you are going to spend CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] money.”

“Slum and blight” is defined in Maine statutes as an area in which there are a substantial number of buildings or improvements that are detrimental to the public health or safety due to any combination of the following: deterioration or obsolescence; inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation or open spaces; overcrowding; conditions that endanger life or property by fire and other causes; inadequate street layouts; or even where tax delinquency exceeds fair market value.

The area that municipal officers seek to define in this manner includes the entire south side of Main Street, from Water Street to the area just across from Tannery Street.  From there, the blighted area will extend back around to Water Street by following the Pennesseewassee Stream, Greenleaf Avenue, Orchard Street, and Pikes Hill.

“There are buildings within that area that easily come under that category,” said Selectman Robert Walker at a recent selectman’s meeting where the issue was raised.  “It doesn’t mean that the whole area is, but it means that there are buildings within that area that are.”

Only a town meeting vote has the authority to bestow the “slum and blight” label.  Selectmen cannot take that action unilaterally.  

Such action, if it is to be done, must be taken before the CDBG application is submitted.  The deadline for that grant is Saturday, January 15, or, two days after the special town meeting.

According to Holt, the only alternative to declaring the area “slum and blighted” that would still leave the town eligible for CDBG funding would be to somehow prove that the grant would benefit “low and moderate income people.”

“And that’s really pretty hard to prove,” said Holt.  “It’s not impossible, but [declaring an area] slum and blight is a much lower threshold [of proof] for a town to achieve.”

In February 2004, the Maine Office of Community and Economic Development rejected a CDBG request from Norway for $400,000.  That grant was a first attempt to secure funding for rehabilitation of the C. B. Cummings Mill behind Main Street at the foot of Pikes Hill.

“One of the criticisms of our application,” said Holt, “was this [CDBG] is a downtown program, and they felt that we didn’t do a clear enough job connecting the mill to the downtown. 

“Those of us that live here, it’s just an accepted thing,” continued Holt.  “But if you are in Augusta, scoring applications, if you can put yourself in their position, we have to make it clear that the mill and the downtown are one and the same.”

That, at least in part, led to the proposed widening of the “slum and blighted” area.

“We need to change the area [of what’s to be designated],” said Holt, “because some of what’s being proposed now is to spend some money on the back side of some of the buildings on Main Street, as well as over at the mill property.”

There are currently plans to submit two separate Community Development Block Grants, totaling $750,000.

One application, filed by the town, is for $500,000.  This is the grant tied to the “slum and blighted” labeling.

“It’s [for] a mixed bag of stuff, it’s kind of a laundry list of things,” said Holt.

The other grant, for $250,000, will be filed by the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.  The Growth Council is a division of EnterpriseMaine, the current owners of the old wood turning mill, which it purchased in December, 2003 for $100,000. 

Portions of both grants will be used to make the Cummings mill site more attractive to redevelopers and private businesses by tearing down certain buildings and upgrading sewer, water and parking facilities for those buildings that remain.

Money for foot bridges linking the mill to Main Street is expected to come from a separate Maine Department of Transportation grant.

Brett Doney, CEO of Enterprise Maine, will be on hand at a public hearing prior to the town meeting to discuss what is proposed to be done with any grant money that might be received as well as other long term plans for the mill property.

After that hearing, voters will have three choices: they can accept the newly designated area as proposed, they can reject the designation out of hand — in which case the town will withhold filing its CDBG request — or, they make alterations to the map that change the area to be designated “slum and blight.