BIDDEFORD — The RiverWalk will be completed in Biddeford if a bill sponsored by a local legislator becomes law.

Sen. David Dutremble, D-Biddeford, sponsored the bill, which would exempt the construction of walkways from certain water and wetland setback requirements if they are located within a downtown revitalization project and meet other specified requirements. Currently, the state’s shoreland zoning laws require a 25-foot barrier between walkways and the shoreline.

In an email Tuesday, Dutremble said the bill was specifically written to allow for the extension of the RiverWalk ”“ from the newly constructed pedestrian bridge that connects Biddeford and Saco to where the former Maine Energy Recovery Co. property meets Lincoln Street.

The only way to connect those two areas is to cantilever a walkway alongside a few hundred feet of brick buildings abutting the Saco River; such a walkway would hang over the river and impede on the barrier set forth by current laws. Therefore, Dutremble said the bill was “the only way to continue (the RiverWalk’s) progress.”

One of the bill’s cosponsors, Rep. Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, echoed Dutremble’s sentiments in an email Wednesday.

“The only way for the (RiverWalk) project to be completed is to allow this to happen,” he said.

Late last month, following a public hearing on the bill, the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources unanimously recommended it pass with just “a minor change,” Biddeford Economic and Community Development Director Daniel Stevenson said Thursday. Stevenson testified in favor of the bill at that hearing.

Earlier this week the Senate accepted the committee’s report on the bill, and it’s now being reviewed by the House.

Stevenson said he sees no reason the Legislature wouldn’t enact the bill and Gov. LePage wouldn’t then sign it into law. “There’s nothing that leads me to believe this won’t become law,” he said.

Mark Bergeron, director of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Land Resource Regulation, also testified in favor of the bill. In a written copy of his testimony, Bergeron says the bill “strikes the right balance between encouraging revitalization of old, run-down portions of towns and the environmental considerations necessary to protect Maine’s water quality.”

Stevenson said if the bill becomes law, the city would still have to come up with the money for extending the RiverWalk, which is funded by tax increment financing. But he doesn’t think that will prove difficult.

Many have already voiced their support for the project, said Stevenson, including area business owners who are especially excited about the possibility of adding outdoor restaurant seating overlooking the river.

“We will find a way to get this built because of its impact on economic development and its uniqueness,” he said. “It would give views of the river that a lot of people just haven’t seen. People would want to come downtown just for the RiverWalk.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].