PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A small group of Presque Isle residents has identified increasing safety and opportunities to walk as top priorities for a state grant the city is seeking.
A handful of residents and city officials turned out for a workshop Thursday led by GrowSmart Maine, an Augusta-based nonprofit that promotes environmentally minded development.
The session was designed to choose three top priorities for potential grant funding through the Community Resiliency Partnership, a program of the Governor’s Office on Policy Innovation and the Future. With a goal of helping Mainers weather climate change, the program coordinates grants to help with energy efficiency, green spaces, conservation and more.
Grants of up to $75,000 can be applied to a range of projects that help address climate change, said Dayea Shim, GrowSmart project coordinator. The eligible areas include transportation, modernizing buildings, reducing emissions and building healthy communities.
“The enrollment process helps communities take stock of their current activities and decide what their next priorities are,” Shim said.
Under Community Resilience Partnership programs, dozens of Maine communities have received funding. Community action grant recipients include Island Falls and Crystal, which won funds to create a public awareness campaign for climate change, and Mount Desert and Tremont, which received close to $120,000 for shared staffing related to climate resiliency.
And in northern Maine, Fort Fairfield received a grant for technical assistance under the partnership’s rural energy efficiency category to evaluate some of its town buildings.
After a brainstorming session, the Presque Isle group chose three priorities: creating better opportunities for walking and bicycling to cut downtown vehicle traffic; planting trees to create green spaces; and looking for ways to grow the farmers market to encourage more local food options.
The city’s walkability — or lack thereof — generated the most discussion.
More walkways would likely bring more people downtown, resident Vincent Nguyen said.
The area needs better signage and speeding enforcement to promote safety, resident Pat Cote said.
“We don’t have enough places where you can safely cross Main Street, let alone Academy Street, let alone State Street,” he said. “The busiest crosswalk is right in front of the theater. There’s nothing there to really alert people that there’s a crossing there.”
Many of those concerns will be addressed with the downtown redesign through the Maine Department of Transportation’s Village Partnership Initiative, Acting City Manager Sonja Eyler said.
As far as enforcement goes, the Presque Isle Police Department is already stretched thin, she said.
“We sometimes have to choose: Do we want them chasing the bad guys, or do we want them downtown?” she said. “The reality is, sometimes you have to choose public safety.”
The city may consider a sidewalk and crosswalk study to see where more of each are needed, said Tim St. Peter, code enforcement officer and deputy director of innovation and economic development.
Maine DOT has already targeted the west side of South Main Street for a sidewalk with the Village Partnership project, he said.
Planting more trees in town fits in with GrowSmart’s natural climate solutions goal, as green spaces increase shade and filter carbon.
The downtown redesign will incorporate green spaces, but planting trees requires a complex plan because of winter salt and the need for plowing, city officials said.
The group chose natural resources as a third category, and decided to look at growing the farmers market.
Participants debated a food sovereignty market, which unlike a farmers market is not restricted and includes all food products. It’s easier for people to participate, but carries more liability, Tax Assessor Lewis Cousins said.
The current spring-to-fall market at Riverside Pavilion has outgrown its space, and there are vendors who don’t participate, several people said. The group favored consolidating vendors and possibly seeking a larger space.
St. Peter, Eyler and Nguyen will form a working group to choose one of the three options. Shim will meet with them via Zoom to prepare a project resolution by the end of May.
Grant writing will start in June, and the final grant application is due in August, Shim said.
