2020.02.03 Council Agenda Item 7

This item was last discussed by the Council on July 10, 2017: agenda item 9, meeting minutes.

BACKGROUND:

In November 2015, the Town Council established an Ad-Hoc Route 1 North Committee and tasked it with the development of a vision and master plan for Route 1 North, an area encompassing Route 1 from the Turnpike Spur to the Town of Cumberland line. The Committee met fifteen times to develop its recommendations and received extensive input from the public through three public forums and an online survey.

In June 2017, the Committee completed a Route 1 North Vision Report and voted unanimously to recommend this report for acceptance by the Town Council. The report contains six recommended actions pertaining to land use, four pertaining to open space, recreation, and amenities, and six pertaining to mobility. Town staff recommended that the Route 1 North Tax Increment Financing District funds be used to fund any future costs associated with the implementation of the Report. The Committee recommended the Town Council authorize staff to engage with a professional engineering firm to conduct preliminary engineering to further review, analyze, design, and refine all recommendations, including the development of more detailed costs to implement the recommendations. 

On July 10, 2017, the Town Council unanimously approved Resolution 17-2018 which stated that:

1. The Town Council, has reviewed the [Route 1 North Vision] report and recommended actions; and
2. The Town Council supports the report, but not necessarily every recommended action, and does not yet commit to the allocation of funding that will be required to implement specific construction; and
3. The Town Council supports, as the next step, the development of a Preliminary Engineering Plan budget to be considered by the town council during the FY2019 TIF and CIP budget development process.

.At that time the Town Council decided to delay implementation of the report until a Concept Plan was developed for Blackstrap Road. A Concept plan for Blackstrap Road was completed in Fall 2019.  

In 2019, MaineDOT began design work for improvements to the Johnson Road Bridge over Interstate 295. The Town has advocated for inclusion of a sidewalk on that bridge. Such a sidewalk would complete the sidewalk improvements that are recommended in the Route 1 Vision plan. Town commitment for such sidewalk improvements is important for MaineDOT to include a sidewalk improvement on the bridge. In addition, there may be financial advantages to the construction timing of these two projects.

REQUEST:

Staff recommends that the Council consider a proposed resolution that authorizes:

• the Town Manager to seek consultant services to prepare a Preliminary Engineering Plan for Route 1 North that follows the recommendations contained in the Route 1 Vision Report, and  
• expenditures for the Preliminary Engineering Plan be funded from the Route 1 North Tax Increment Financing District.

ATTACHMENTS:

• Presentation from July 10, 2017 Council meeting
• Recommendation Letter to Town Council from Route 1 North Committee, dated June 23, 2017
• Route 1 North Vision Report (with appendices), June 2017
• Approved resolution 17-2018
• Proposed resolution 89-2020
• Staff Memo regarding status of the Route 1 North Tax Increment Financing District, dated December 31, 2019