By Suzanne Hodgson

Staff Writer

Residents will vote on a grant to allow nine businesses in the area to receive face lifts in a special July 13 Kennebunk town meeting.

Caroline Segalla, planning and development officer for the town, spearheaded the application for a $115,000 Federal Community Enterprise grant to be divided up among businesses in the town, including the library to improve facades.

“It’s great timing to go with the revitalization project. Both are wonderful projects looking to help improve downtown,” Segalla said.

The grant money comes from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program, which distributes approximately $16 million per year in Maine directly to municipalities based on census data, according to Segalla.

If approved, The library will receive approximately $20,000 to replace four columns in the front of the building. The columns have been slated for replacement for at least two years, according to Dave Spofford, a former library board member and current selectman.

Segalla explained the grant is based on a 50 percent match. Each business must pay 50 percent of the repairs and the grant covers the rest.

“I discussed the grant with businesses I thought might be interested. They thought it was beneficial for a matching grant and said ‘why not.’ It’s more money than we have now,” Segalla said.

To qualify, businesses had to demonstrate some sort of deterioration that could be seen by the public walking past.  The blight could include anything from chipping paint, an outdated sign, torn awnings or roofing problems – as long as it can be seen from the street.

“It’s almost part of the grant, people see one store conducting improvements and it trickles down to next door. Now, that storefront wants to update theirs as well,” Segalla said.

Segalla signed up seven businesses that required a total of $115,000 in improvements but, before the grant deadline, the library and First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church came on board. The funds weren’t adjusted to match the new requests, so all nine businesses will each get 77 percent of their original requests.

“I’m not exactly sure how much money we’ll receive, but we thought it’d be nice to upgrade the front of the building to make them more attractive. The grant will help with a little bit of that,” said Bruce Dunphy who will fix up the exterior of the vacant former Cummings Market, with a handicap ramp, paint and shingles. “We just have to wait to see how much comes out (of the grant), I still think it’s a good idea.”

The town has set up a committee of members from the economic development committee, the downtown committee along with other committee members and residents, to make sure all improvements made to the project are done within guidelines and to the expectations of everyone involved.

A business owner must host a public bidding process for the work and get three bids returned before any construction can start. Once the bids go through the committee and are approved, the business owner will start bringing the committee receipts for services rendered.

Business owners also may bring the receipts to the committee at the end of the project to be reimbursed half the cost of the repairs, within the limits of the businesses portion of the grant.

Other businesses requesting money are the Kennebunk Inn for new paint, windows and signs; We Care DryCleaners to replace windows, the entrance door and new paint; the West Kennebunk United Methodist Church will use the grant to repair and paint the ramp and railing; the Unitarian Church for paint; York Masonic Lodge to repair trim; Prisizhon Studio for paint, awnings, lighting and signage; and Andrews Milligan Real Estate Co. for new windows.

If one of the businesses drops out of the grant, Segalla said there is already a list with two alternates, Perfecto’s Café and the American Legion. Both signed on after the grant deadline.

Now that the first phase of the project – submitting applications and getting businesses on board – is complete, the second phase is underway. This includes environmental testing, historic compliance for the businesses, like the library, which are in a historic district and town approval.

Segalla hopes to have construction started by August.

The special town meeting to vote whether to approve the grant will be 6 p.m., July 13 at town hall before the selectmen’s  meeting.

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