FARMINGTON – The project to provide utility upgrades to the low- to moderate-income housing development at 82 High Street is underway.
A $312,007 Community Development Block Grant awarded last winter will provide for new sewer and water lines to the residences that include three apartment buildings with a total of 13 units and 17 mobile homes.
Construction on the 82 High Street Housing Assistance Project located along Sawtelle Lane began a little more than a week ago and is expected to be completed this fall. The work, designed by Dirigo Engineering and constructed by E.L. Vining & Son, Inc., includes installing 800 linear feet of both a new water main and a sewer main with service lines to units and paving a new road.
The CDBG program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is administered through the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development Community Development. Last fall voters approved the town of Farmington and 82 High Street Corporation as partnering applicants for the grant. Additional local match will be secured by the development’s board of directors through loan funding and in-kind contributions.
The 82 High Street development got its start in 1987 when local churches, Western Maine Community Action and Maine Housing Authority got the funding necessary to purchase the privately-owned development that was overcrowded with substandard trailers and scheduled for demolition.
Those pitching in saw the value of affordable housing located within easy walking distance of downtown’s services. New mobile homes were installed and upgrades to three apartment buildings on site were completed.
Over the years, the development has been managed by a nonprofit corporation board of directors that include residents of 82 High Street. Through a combination of grant funding, local agencies and volunteer help, the development has undergone renovations to the development’s aging mobile homes.
In 2010, funding through the Community Development Block Grant program totaling $268,000 was secured and paid for the renovation of the 16 mobile homes and for a new, 17th mobile home to be installed on a concrete slab. The work was completed in 2012 at a total cost of $365,000, with various funding through agency and private sources and in-kind volunteer work supporting the project.
Board members said earlier the next step they are looking at is possibly replacing the aging three apartment buildings near the High Street end of the development.
