LISBON

The Lisbon Town Council wants to hear what the public has to say tonight about its proposal to issue up to $1 million in bonds so the town can purchase and demolish the Worumbo Mill.

The hearing will take place during the council’s regular 7 p.m. meeting at the town office.

The $1 million bond is what officials estimate it will take to purchase and tear down the property, Town Manager Steve Eldridge said.

The bond would be for a termof15yearsata3to4 percent interest rate and a net estimated interest cost of $349,116.

After the public hearing, the Town Council will decide whether it wants to move the bond question to the public, possibly through a Sept. 24 special referendum. However, the council could also put the bond question on the November or June 2014 ballots.

The old mill, built of concrete in the 1920s, is perched on the shore of the Androscoggin River. To repair the dilapidated building’s roof, exterior walls, skylights and other needed work, such as stabilization of the small level of lead paint, would cost an estimated $2.3 million, Eldridge said.

The property was marketed in 2009 and the town’s economic development department worked “hand in hand,” with owner Jo Miller of Miller Industries and Realtor Don Spann of RE/MAX Riverside, Eldridge said.

The town also brought some funding to the table, including a proposal for a downtown tax-increment financing district.

But Eldridge said he walked through the building with five to 10 developers — looking at uses ranging from housing to a call center to educational facilities — and “they felt you’d never get your money back.”

“You’ve got to find someone with deep pockets,” Eldridge said Monday.

Maine also has an abundance of mill properties, and Lisbon is competing to draw someone to its mill, made of concrete and perhaps not as visually desirable as the redbrick variety.

The property is currently assessed at about $200,000 and its owner is paying $4,939 annually in property taxes.

With the building would come 5.5 acres, including some property on Mill Street near the Paper Mill Trail, “so it can be developed,” Eldridge said.

If the building does get torn down, “all intentions are of looking for a developer,” to develop part of the property while maintaining public access to the waterfront.

The town is looking at an estimated price tag of around $520,000 to demolish the building, and has also looked at grants to help with clean up.

Tonight, “we want to hear from everybody,” Eldridge said. “We want to hear their thoughts, we want to hear their questions.”

At the council’s last meeting on Aug. 6, Chairman Fern Larochelle spoke of the council’s need to stop dragging its feet after several months working with Miller Industries.

Eldridge said Monday that, “We want to be very responsive to Miller Industries. They’ve historically been very generous to the town and given us a number of properties. This has been a very amicable conversation between the two of us and something the council wanted to seriously consider,” in a forward-thinking look at the big picture. “That’s a major part of our downtown.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com

¦ THE HEARING will take place during the council’s regular 7 p.m. meeting tonight at the town office.

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