TOPSHAM
Two proposed tax-increment financing districts will go to town voters for hearings Sept. 5 and to the ballot box at a Sept. 25 town meeting.
Selectmen voted unanimously Thursday to place the items before voters.
Both TIF applications include a list of projects presenters repeatedly told selectmen they are not required to do, but projects the town would need to do that could be funded through TIF revenues rather than from the general fund.
That process will still require voter-approval like any other normal project or expenditure.
Selectmen agreed Thursday it will be important to defend the need for the TIFs at the public hearing and town meeting at a time many residents will see increases in their property tax bills.
One TIF is proposed for a senior housing facility, named River Landing, slated to be constructed in the place of the former Amenity Manor on Elm Street.
Seacoast Management Co. and Developers Collaborative plan to demolish the former nursing home and build a 36- unit, 2.5-story senior housing facility on the site.
Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative told the board Thursday they would submit their application for the project to the Maine State Housing Authority the day after the Sept. 25 meeting, if voters support the TIF.
Bunker said net tax revenue from the TIF should increase ninefold for the town if the project is built.
The Amenity Manor property will bring $5,500 in taxes to the town next year, he said. The project upon completion would pay about $40,000, Bunker said, with a tax increment of about $35,000.
About $17,500 would go into the project and the other $17,500 into the town’s project account.
“It’s incredibly compelling for us, and I think it’s pretty compelling for the town as well,” Bunker said.
The TIF would allow TIFgenerated revenue to cover the operation costs of the project, which is different than other TIFs the state allows, and is a component Seacoast Management and Developers Collaborative, say they need for a successful application.
Selectmen also approved placing a downtown TIF on the town meeting warrant. That TIF would cover the Main Street corridor from the Androscoggin River to the Interstate 295 exchange.
The TIF — known as the Topsham Downtown and Transit-oriented Municipal Development and Omnibus Tax Increment Financing District — specifies projects the town would like to do in the area and is submitted to the state Department of Economic and Community Development for approval.
This doesn’t commit the town to any spending,” said Chuck Lawton, chief economist with Planning Decisions, which consulted on the downtown TIF proposal. “It’s to say, this is an application and we’d like the (state Department of Economic and Community Development) to approve it and we’d like to think about it every year as that potential list of projects come up before whatever the town chooses to do.”
Selectman James Trusiani said he still has “heartburn” over the roundabout and sewer infrastructure projects listed in the proposed TIF, but voted along with other board members to bring it to public hearing and town meeting.
Trusiani and Selectman Dave Douglass questioned the need to “hurry” the neighborhood revitalization plan for the Elm and Green streets area to town meeting.
The plan would help the application for the River Landing, Bunker said.
Selectmen Ronald Riendeau and Trusiani voted to oppose putting the revitalization plan before voters at the Sept. 5 public hearing and Sept. 25 town meeting. The measure passed, though, by a 3-2 vote.
The board also voted unanimously to take to the hearing and town meeting, a proposed Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Plan application on behalf of Wicked Joe’s Coffee.
The company, currently located on Water Street in Brunswick, is looking to expand in the commissary at the former Navy Annex.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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