Sanford gets $25M in federal funds to revitalize downtown. Here's what's planned

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SANFORD, Maine — Mayor Anne Marie Mastraccio said the city knew it had a good proposal on its hands when earlier this year it applied for federal funds to go toward revitalizing downtown Sanford.

“We were hopeful,” Mastraccio said.

And with good reason. On Monday, Sen. Susan Collins announced that the City of Sanford will receive a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity – RAISE – grant worth $25 million. The city will use the funds to improve infrastructure, beautify and create more opportunities for recreation and cultural events in downtown Sanford.

“We are just so excited,” Mastraccio said Monday afternoon.

Widening the walkway along Number One Pond in Sanford, Maine, is one of several projects the city is pursuing and for which it has applied for millions of dollars in federal funding.
Widening the walkway along Number One Pond in Sanford, Maine, is one of several projects the city is pursuing and for which it has applied for millions of dollars in federal funding.

The city submitted the application in collaboration with the Maine Department of Transportation.

Collins, a Republican and a ranking member of the Transportation Appropriations Committee, said the funds heading Sanford’s way will bring change to its downtown.

“The investment in Sanford is exciting and will be transformative,” Collins said. “It will help revitalize the downtown and improve the quality of life for the city’s residents, attract more visitors, and support small businesses.”

The funds – expected during the next fiscal year, according to Mastraccio – will comprise the majority share of the Downtown Sanford Village Partnership Initiative, which is projected to have a price tag of $31.3 million. The remainder of that sum will come from the city’s previously approved capital improvement funds, Mastraccio said.

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In the application earlier this year, the city outlined its focus for the funds: improving streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, underground utility ducts, streetlights, parking spaces, and drainage areas.

“We need to fix this stuff and get it right,” Mastraccio said.

The city also plans to use the funds for the walkway around Number One Pond to create the Mousam Promenade, a path for pedestrians and cyclists that connects with the local trail system.

As well, the city wants to establish a park-and-ride facility on Emerson Street to serve the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and other regional employers who every day welcome hundreds of Sanford residents to their workplaces.

A map, provided by Jordan Wilson, the city’s communications coordinator, specifically shows a portion of Main, School and Washington streets, the intersection of Cottage, River and Winter streets, and along Number One Pond on Riverside Avenue and William Oscar Emery Drive as areas of focus where the grant will be applied.

The City of Sanford is receiving $25 million in federal funds to go towards downtown revitalization projects, including one at the intersection of River, Winter and Cottage streets. The intersection is seen here on Monday, May 2, 2022.
The City of Sanford is receiving $25 million in federal funds to go towards downtown revitalization projects, including one at the intersection of River, Winter and Cottage streets. The intersection is seen here on Monday, May 2, 2022.

Earlier this year, Sanford Public Works Director Matthew Hill said the city already has a five-year capital improvement plan in place for the projects. He said the city’s engineering division has been planning this revitalization “for quite some time already,” and has done so in cooperation with City Manager Steven Buck, the Maine DOT, and several consultants, including VHB, of South Portland, Gorrill Palmer, also of South Portland, Titcomb Associates Surveying, of Falmouth, and Aceto Landscape Architects, of Portland.

“The RAISE Grant Merit Criteria closely mirrored both local and statewide goals for Sanford’s future," Hill said on Monday. "We are looking forward to continuing innovation, economic competitiveness, quality of life, and environmental sustainability through Sanford’s infrastructure."

The grant for Sanford comprises half of the RAISE funds heading Maine’s way, according to Collins. The City of Bangor will receive $24.6 million to replace an aged portion of an overpass along Route 95.

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‘A built-in road race, in our downtown’

In February, Hill described the Mousam Promenade that will encircle Number One Pond, once completed.

“It’ll be a good walking distance for anyone who works downtown and wants to take a break and walk along the water,” he said.

Or run around it. The 1.5-mile loop will be the equivalent of a certain kind of race when taken twice.

“It’s a built-in road race, basically, in our downtown,” Hill said.

Part of the reconstruction will involve transforming the roundabout on William Oscar Emery Drive into a more conventional intersection, according to Hill.

Artist renderings show proposed visualizations for the Mousam Promenade on River Street in Sanford, Maine. Recently awarded federal transportation funds will go toward the project, as well as other downtown improvements, beginning next year.
Artist renderings show proposed visualizations for the Mousam Promenade on River Street in Sanford, Maine. Recently awarded federal transportation funds will go toward the project, as well as other downtown improvements, beginning next year.

The city is also completing a parking study in order to right-size potential parking demand for the Mousam Promenade, Hill added. The study is taking a sensitive approach with surrounding residences and businesses in mind, he added.

For years, people have gathered along Number One Pond to enjoy fireworks on the Fourth and the Maine Attraction Water Ski Team’s shows in the summertime. At one point in the early 2000s, old World War II planes even descended upon the water to drop pumpkins on floating targets as part of the “Harvest Daze” festival the city once held. And in day-to-day life, people enjoy sitting on the benches or in their parked cars and looking across the pond to the historic mills in the distance.

The promenade will be key to the community’s connectivity, said Lee Burnett, of the city’s trails committee and of Cycle Sanford, a group of bicycle enthusiasts. Earlier this year, Burnett called Hill the “champion of all this,” and said the trails committee has pursued the idea of a bike and pedestrian path along the pond for a long time.

Burnett called the future path an “alternative transportation artery,” similar to Back Cove in Portland. He said the promenade will close a gap that currently exists in the city’s extensive trails system.

“The Mousam Promenade will stitch everything together into an integrated trail system,” Burnett said.

On Monday, Mastraccio said the successful grant application is another example of what is happening in Sanford as a result of the strong partnerships the city has cultivated. She said these projects will be a lot of work and will take time.

"It will be worth it," she said. "Good news for Sanford, right?"

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Sanford Maine gets $25 million federal grant for downtown improvements