By Suzanne Hodgson

Staff Writer

Kennebunk officials have received a $160,000 grant to clean up the former Mobil gas station property on Main Street.

Town Manager Barry Tibbetts met with the Southern Maine Regional Planning executive committee on April 29 to discuss the grant to clean up contamination and remove any structures on the property. The town would be required to match 20 percent, or $32,000, of the grant award.

The executive committee unanimously voted to give the grant to the town for the project.

Tibbetts said the grant does not have an expiration date, but the town must own the property before receiving any money.

Kennebunk residents will vote whether to purchase the $310,000 former gas station on June 8. On April 13, selectmen voted 4-2, with Deb Beale and John Kotsonis opposed, to put the question on the June ballot.

The vote, if successful, would be the last requirement of the purchase-and-sale agreement signed Jan. 5 by Tibbetts and C.N. Brown and Company, the owner of the parcel.

Tibbetts signed the agreement with conditions that require selectmen approval, environmental testing and cleanup of the site and taxpayer approval.

Tibbetts originally said testing and cleanup would be done before residents vote on purchasing the site. However, in March he told selectmen the grant being pursued for testing and cleanup first required town ownership of the property.

In order to hold the grant for Kennebunk, documents must be signed before Oct. 1 or as soon as the town owns the property.

Tibbetts said the town’s portion of the grant could be matched in-kind by using town equipment and employee time.

“We can mitigate that 20 percent down. It wouldn’t cost us a 20 percent match,” he said.

Tibbetts recommended putting together a flyer to inform the public the grant was received.

The Mobil Gas station flyer will be presented to the board of selectmen at the next meeting on May 25. Once approved, the flyer can be found at local variety stores.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.