Planning continues for D-F downtown traffic improvements   

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Last summer the town began to look for some possible solutions for the stretch of road where East Main, Pleasant, South, West Main, North and Lincoln streets converge having agreed to use up to $25,000 for the municipality’s 50/50 share with the Maine Department of Transportation on a cooperative agreement for a traffic study. The downtown includes the major routes to Bangor, Dexter, Milo and Greenville. Gorrill Palmer Consulting Engineers Inc. of South Portland came on board as a consultant.

A public meeting with nearly 40 attendees was held in September. Concerns brought up varied, those raised included tractor trailer trucks turning on the narrow streets, where pedestrians can safely cross and deteriorating asphalt and cement on the road and sidewalks. While there may be no immediate fixes, town and state officials had hoped to develop some short-term and long-term solutions. 

“We have current conditions drafted,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said about a Dover-Foxcroft Urban Area Transportation Study during a Feb. 24 selectmen’s meeting. “Now Gorrill Palmer is working on the future alternate analysis.”

He said costs, traffic movement and overall effectiveness are all factors being considered to make recommendations for downtown Dover-Foxcroft. Clukey said the MDOT is reviewing the proposals to make sure everything makes sense on the agency’s behalf.

A traffic report is scheduled to be ready for mid-March and a second public meeting could take place in the middle of April with a final traffic document released in early May.

“If members of the public are interested they should be watching for a meeting sometime in April,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr said.

Clukey said materials should be available for review at the town office prior to the April meeting.

In other business, the selectmen approved a $412,044 bid by Hopkins Paving LLC of Bangor for the 2020 construction season. Hopkins Paving submitted the low bid among five, which ranged from the approximate $412,000 to nearly $646,000.

“We had a good amount of bidders, probably as many bidders as we’ve ever had — very competitive,” Clukey said. “This would be the third year they’ve worked for us, they’ve done a great job.”

He said the bid is for the first half of the summer paving season so Hopkins Paving can be finished by the end of July.

“We have our traditional joint meeting between the board of selectmen and the budget advisory committee tentatively set for March 25,” Freeman Cyr said. Clukey said the Wednesday, March 25 date is tentative because the budget advisory committee will formally approve its schedule when meetings start in early March.

The selectmen also tentatively set a public hearing with the budget advisory committee for the evening of Wednesday, April 1.

“So everyone should have their budget book, there’s a lot there,” Clukey said to the selectmen later in the meeting.

“The net amount to raise is up by 2.6 percent, $74,610 more,” the town manager said. He said the town’s valuation is up and revenue sources should also be more in 2020-21 than the year before.

Clukey said the town’s share of the RSU 68 budget won’t be known for several months but the early indicators are the mill rate will stay at or near the current amount of $21.50 per $1,000 in assessed property.

“We’re very optimistic at the end of the day we won’t be seeing a big change in the tax commitment,” he said.

Last July the selectmen set the $21.50 mill rate for 2019-20, with the mill rate rising 30 cents (1.41 percent) from the 2019 fiscal year.

The mill rate covered an approximate $5.47 million municipal budget for 2019-20, Dover-Foxcroft’s $2.8 million appropriation for RSU 68, the town’s share of the county spending plan totaling just over $466,000 and several other expenses including the $109,508 TIF financing plan and overlay. 

The $9 million-plus in total assessments was offset by about $2.6 million in revenues for a net assessment for commitment totaling $6,491,890. The Dover-Foxcroft valuation increased by more than $2.1 million to a total taxable valuation of $301,948,400, compared to $299,833,900 in 2018-19.