VAN BUREN, Maine – Residents filled Van Buren’s town council room on Wednesday, Aug. 21 during a public meeting hosted by the Maine Department of Transportation, which wanted feedback on an upcoming Village Partnership Initiative project.
Much of the feedback during the meeting centered on how some aspects of the project, such as bump-outs and the addition of trees along some roads, could affect winter road maintenance.
Bump-outs involve widening sidewalks for a short distance. This provides a better view when people crossing the road would otherwise be obscured by parked cars. It also gives pedestrians a shorter distance to cross.
MaineDOT Regional Planner Jarod Farn-Guillette, in response to concerns about bump-outs, said they may be able to taper them, which would allow a plow to get through them while still providing the necessary visibility.
“If trees are not feasible or they are an impediment, that is something that can be worked out,” Farn-Guillette said. “We do this in other municipalities.”
Van Buren Town Manager Luke Dyer added that the preliminary sketches are also showing “a lot more trees” than will likely be planted.
“We’re not going to plant 700 trees out there,” he said. “But we are definitely going to have some canopy.”
Farn-Guillette explained how the plans have changed based on public feedback during the first public meeting on March 6. One change was to not install a roundabout at the intersection of State Street and Main Street, and to instead consider flashing stop signs.
Van Buren is one of several Aroostook towns participating in the VPI program, in which the Maine DOT helps communities improve their downtown and village center areas. These zones are defined as having a speed limit below 30 miles per hour, having businesses that provide goods and services along with housing and a civic or religious facility.
The work goes beyond paving roads, and involves reconfiguring these areas to improve the town’s aesthetic and character while also improving walkability and addressing non-motorist safety concerns.
The St. John Valley towns of Fort Kent and Madawaska are also involved in the VPI program.
The work will cover roughly two miles of road in Van Buren, beginning near the Border View Rehabilitation Center on State Street and going left down Main Street until Keegan Variety. The work also includes Bridge Street and Grant Street. It also includes a 1.7-mile walking path, two pedestrian bridges, and trail work.
The DOT is asking for a 10 percent match from municipalities. Farn-Guillette said the project will likely cost around $10 million, which would require a $1 million match from the town. If, for example, engineering costs $1 million, then he said the town would be asking for a $100,000 match.
“We want municipal skin in the game,” he said regarding the match structure. “We want your buy-in. It’s not us telling you what to do. It’s us working together and finding a solution that’s in the best interest for your community and the traveling public.”
The town has already got a head start on some of the work planned for Grant Street. Last month officials started a $77,785 project to transform a 3.1-acre area on the street into a space containing at least 10 community garden spaces and a greenhouse. The town will also use the greenhouse to grow trees that will be used as a canopy for the VPI project.
Van Buren received a $44,345 Community Action Grant to help fund the Grant Street work.
Next steps include submitting a final report based on public input. The town will then decide to move onto preliminary engineering, after which they will seek federal discretionary grant funding.
In an interview leading up to the meeting, Farn-Guillette said that, if all goes well, the project could be finished in roughly four years. He added that this date is tentative, as there are several moving parts involved such as permitting, design, and grant writing.
Dyer, during the public hearing, said this is a rare opportunity, as the last time a similar project occurred in Van Buren was in the mid-1990s – roughly 30 years ago.
“This is a once in a lifetime thing,” he said. “I’ll be long dead, and half of us will be long dead by the time this ever pops up again. We won’t have this opportunity again.”
