Residents approve funding package

To help Abbie Fowler School be converted to assisted living facility

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

SANGERVILLE — Since the Abbie Fowler School became the property first of Sangerville and now the Sangerville Historical Society after being closed by SAD 4 a number of years ago, the town has explored both redeveloping the facility and tearing the building down but options have been limited as a result of the hazardous material remaining in the structure.

Cleanup of the structure may now be able to be taken care of after matching funds for a brownfields grant were approved during a special town meeting on Jan. 28. With the substances removed, a project to convert the Abbie Fowler School into an assisted living facility can begin. Plans for the private project — ownership could be transferred to the developer in the future — call for the facility to be comprised of 22 beds with 10 double rooms and a pair of single rooms along with activity and dining rooms, offices, a laundry room and kitchen. The estimated cost is $1.5 million along with $240,000 in brownfields clean-up monies.

“Whether we go ahead with the plan we have have now for reuse of the building or we demolish it, it has to be cleaned up,” Selectman Tom Carone said.

At the special town meeting, the unanimous vote by those present appropriated $4,630 from undesignated funds and the use of another $15,370 from unused funds in the Abbie Fowler account to provide matching funds for a $100,000 grant from the the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council brownfields revolving loan fund for the Sangerville Historical Society’s application to eliminate the hazardous materials. The article stated this will not affect property taxes and will allow the state to grant the historical society another $100,000 for the cleanup with no other matching funds required from the town.

According to a schedule for the assisted living facility, the $200,000 in brownfields grants will be received next month, with the cleanup taking place in March and April. A public hearing and application will be part of the annual town meeting on Saturday, April 2. Should funding be awarded then construction could go out to bid in the fall, start soon after and be completed by the mid-summer of 2017.

Another article on the special town meeting warrant was for a $50,000 application from the Community Development Block Grant Micro-Enterprise Program for Martin Cleaning Service. The grant application, approved by a vote of 18-3 and due by the end of March, is earmarked to help the business expand through the purchase of additional commercial cleaning equipment and to acquire a van to transport the equipment.

“The grants are to the town for the benefit of the business,” Town Manager Dr. Ken Woodbury said during the public hearing portion of the meeting about the purpose of the micro-enterprise program, which also benefits low to moderate income citizens who either own their own businesses or have employment opportunities through jobs created. “This job does not require any hires because the owner is low to moderate income,” Dr. Woodbury said.

“The main effect is to increase the efficiency of Martin Cleaning Service, so hopefully they can add positions,” he said.

“It’s very competitive, there’s no guarantee that it will go through,” Dr. Woodbury said. Should funds be awarded, these monies would go to the town and Martin Cleaning Service would make purchases and then be reimbursed with Dr. Woodbury overseeing and signing off on all transactions.

The town manager said he hopes to make business owners aware of grant opportunities, as Maine communities are able to apply for up to $150,000 annually from the micro-enterprise program. Applications can be made “so we can broaden the tax base in Sangerville and broaden the employment opportunities in town rather than go out of town.”