More than 100 parking spots are slated for construction in a new park-and-ride to be built next to the Downeast Energy Propane tank, shown in this file photo. The tank has been removed, according to the town engineer. File

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick town councilors on Monday unanimously approved $128,000 in tax increment financing revenue to help the Maine Department of Transportation build a park-and-ride lot on Cedar Street. 

The project will be completed in two phases. The first, according to meeting materials, will include the construction of the park-and-ride and the extension of the sidewalk on Cedar Street to the lot. Phase two will include a crossing of the railroad tracks and a path adjacent to the tacks to Union Street. 

The project will include 110 parking spots: 30 for short-term Metro Breez and Brunswick Explorer passengers and 80 for longer-term Downeaster travelers. 

The town first applied for a MaineDOT Quality Community Programs grant to build a park and ride at the lot in 2008. Funding wasn’t approved until 10 years later.

Public hearings with abutters and Cedar Street residents as well as the general public took place in November and December and many expressed concerns about the park-and-ride changing the character of the neighborhood. 

According to Barnes, lighting is not expected to spill out of the lot and the town hopes to install additional landscaping and grading as resources allow, to serve as a buffer. There are not currently any plans to landscape within the parking lot. 

The total project is expected to cost roughly $790,000 according to the Forecaster, with state and federal funds covering 80% of the overall price tag. The remaining $128,000 is covered by tax increment financing, or TIF, revenue. 

TIFs are a common financing tool used by municipalities to pay for public projects, usually designated for areas of town that are going to see development, Julia Henze, Brunswick finance director said previously. 

The triangle-shaped lot is surrounded to the north by Cedar Street, and by three sets of railroad tracks on the other sides. The area to the east, which was, until recently, the site of an unused  Downeast Energy propane tank – on a space the company leases from the state – will be developed largely for people taking buses and trains. The area to the west will be left as-is unless demand dictates more parking spots, the Forecaster reported previously. 

About 1,400 vehicles a day travel Cedar Street and Ryan Barnes, town engineer, said in a memo that traffic will be monitored before and after construction, but officials are not expecting much of an increase.  

The lot is scheduled to advertise for construction May 27, and will be graded, paved and striped over the summer. Work is scheduled to be completed in early November.