RUMFORD — Local economic development group Envision! Rumford updated the Board of Selectmen on Thursday evening on a downtown sidewalk reconstruction project.
Selectmen voted 3-1 to forgo a bid process and hire a Livermore Falls firm and its Yarmouth design team to engineer plans to revitalize downtown, including an estimate to develop a design to better engineer and reconstruct downtown sidewalks.
The first phase of the plan consisted of concept-level base mapping, aerial photos and creating a graphic master plan of the downtown sidewalks for an estimated $11,500.
The second phase consisted of base mapping, design development and construction documents, layout and administration at client direction for an estimated $30,400.
Envision! Rumford President Jennifer Kreckel said that improving the sidewalks and safety of the downtown would make it more appealing for new businesses.
During Thursday evening’s meeting, Kreckel said she appreciated selectmen supporting the sidewalk plan.
“I know it’s disappointing that it takes a bit of time to get this process going, but keep in mind that we’re looking at this project to last us for the next 30 years,” Kreckel said. “Streets and sidewalks are part of what people see when they come downtown. If we can plan our streets and sidewalks out so that they’re appealing to others, perhaps we can attract more businesses downtown, which will get more people to visit the downtown area.”
Kreckel said she recently talked with a woman who lived in Rumford when she was a child and recently moved back to town.
“She said she was disappointed to see what the downtown looked like now,” Kreckel said. “She remembered the downtown being festive and lively when she was a girl, but said it looked pretty miserable now.”
Kreckel clarified that “the downtown area didn’t get like that overnight.”
“It took awhile to get this way, but if we can continue planning and pitching in together, we can get the downtown looking great again,” she said.
Town Manager John Madigan told selectmen that when the town gets a plan put together “in a form that can be put out to bid with a cost estimate, we can try and put together an application for the (Community Development Block Grant) program.
“We’ve invested money into the project, have started planning and formed committees to help us work toward making the sidewalks better, and that’s what it takes when you write a grant nowadays,” Madigan said. “They’re so competitive because there’s so little money to go around. I think if we apply and are approved, we could maybe get some of the nicer lampposts or shrubbery or whatever is in the approved plan.”
Kreckel said one of the design plans for the downtown area is to “bring it back to a specific period of time, such as the ’30s and ’40s, as far as fixtures and street lamps and whatnot.
“It wouldn’t be entirely set up that way, but we’re going for that look,” Kreckel said. “We have costs for those sorts of things, so we know what it would entail.”
Kreckel said the Sidewalk Committee will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, before the selectmen meeting.
“The engineers are going to be at the meeting to answer questions and present some of their design plans, so I encourage everyone to go to that meeting,” Kreckel said.
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