BIDDEFORD — “Will they be concrete or brick?”

“Is there a maintenance plan?”

“What types of trees are being considered?”

These were among the many questions thrown around Tuesday night as city officials and engineers, development consultants and members of the public gathered for a public meeting and presentation regarding the proposed Main Street Sidewalk Improvement Extension Project.

The project, construction on which is expected to begin this summer, includes the reconstruction and expansion of sidewalks on both sides of Main Street in Biddeford between Alfred and Adams streets.

Also proposed is the installation of several 2- to 3-foot-high flower planters on sidewalks and 4-foot-high seasonal tree planters on street-level cobblestone flushes – filled with several varieties of trees – which will define parking boundaries in addition to providing aesthetic appeal.

“I think the businesses, people and entities downtown deserve better sidewalks,” Linda Waters, community development coordinator for Biddeford, said in an interview before the meeting. “(This project) has been in the works a long time.”

According to Waters, who moderated Tuesday’s meeting, the city has $200,000 in funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to spend on the project, and will receive an additional $112,000 of funding on July 1.

Waters said the meeting was held in compliance with CDBG grant regulations, which require at least one public hearing to obtain public views on development projects.

Senior Project Manager of Ransom Consulting, Stephen Bradstreet, and president of the landscape architecture firm Mitchell & Associates Robert Metcalf – both of whom are working with the city on the project – gave a presentation about the specifics.

In addition to building new concrete sidewalks, much of the project’s plans include the repurposing of old cobblestones for crosswalks and “bump-outs,” portions of sidewalk that extend into roadways intended to make travel safer for pedestrians.

City Manager Jim Bennett said using existing cobblestone already in inventory saves money, preserves history and creates a unique appearance and functionality that expands sidewalk usage to three seasons.

A major aspect of the project is a proposal to change the intersection of York and Main streets, in which a sidewalk bump-out on York Street would force traffic into a more traditional “t-shaped” intersection, improving pedestrian safety and traffic control.

A primary area of concern about the project includes the removal of existing trees and the addition of many new planted flowers and trees, for which upkeep may be a chore in a city already struggling to meet its gardening demands.

“I’m very much concerned about the trees, and I just wanted to make sure that’s taken into consideration,” said Holly Culloton, a Biddeford resident and a volunteer with the nonprofit organization Heart of Biddeford.

Culloton, who performs much of the watering and upkeep of the plants in downtown parks by herself, questioned the ability to maintain the planters by volunteer efforts alone, and asked about a contingency plan in the event the newly-planted trees die .

She also said tree preservation instead of replacement was more sustainable, and made suggestions for raised sidewalk fixtures that could swerve around tree trunks.

Additional concerns raised by the public include increased traffic with ongoing downtown development, limited holiday decorations with string lights due to fewer in-ground trees lining the street, and potential loitering in front of businesses and residences due to more benches.

“We’re seeing a lot of good things happening here, and we have a lot of good things coming up. I just want to make sure we’re using the money in the best possible way we can with a lot of insight into the future,” Culloton said. “If that means taking the money and doing a smaller project and doing it well, and making it worth our while, I just hope that’s being considered here.”

Culloton said she was concerned that a “bandage” approach would be applied to the sidewalk improvement project, indicating it could be a temporary fix to a permanent problem.

“Only my best is what I do with a project, and if I can only do one block with this project, we will do one block, and then another, and keep going and going until they carry me out in a box,” Waters replied. “I do it once and do it right, and that’s it.”

City officials and consultants working on the project stressed that the purpose of the meeting was to gain input from the public to develop a maintenance plan, and that a plan has not yet been drafted to obtain public opinion per CDBG grant requirements.

Regardless of whether or not total completion of the project is feasible at this time, forcing the project to be completed in pieces, the HUD funding cannot be wasted, Waters said.

“Our government requires that we spend the money. If we don’t, that tells Congress that we don’t need it,” Waters said. “Without HUD funding, many of these projects wouldn’t happen.”

Director of Public Works Guy Casavant said the city has the same motivation as the residents.

“We may all have different ideas, but we’re trying to balance (them),” he said. “Everybody has the same motivation as you. Let’s do it right, the best we can,”

“(The project) will be very pleasing when it’s done,” Biddeford City Engineer Tom Milligan said. “It’s going to be worth it. When it’s all said and done, people will be extremely happy.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.