Dexter council to ponder land deal at Fossa site

Dexter council to ponder land deal at Fossa site
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
By Diana Bowley of the BDN Staff - DEXTER, Maine — The Town Council next month will consider deeding a small plot of land between the former Fossa building and the pavement of the parking lot access road to the Dexter Regional Development Corp.

The nonprofit corporation owns the Fossa building, and it plans to renovate the building to house a year-round farmers market (local General Store). The corporation would like to have an entrance to the building on the small plot that would comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“It just seemed to make sense,” Dexter Town Manager David Pearson told the council last week of deeding the small piece of land to the corporation. The Fossa building is going to rebuild and it would make sense to have an outdoor deck for an entrance on the Route 7 side, he said.

Both Pearson and Councilor Judy Craig are members of the DRDC. Craig abstained when the council voted to place the request on next month’s agenda.

“It’s just creating a use for wasted space,” Councilor Roger Brawn said last week.

The approximately 0.03 acre in question is “kind of a gully” that starts at the granite curbing next to the road leading to the back of the downtown shopping district and ends at the Fossa building, according to Pearson.

Pearson said the plot, which does not include the small parking lot, the trees and the roadway, was part of the property the town purchased for about $40,000 from the Davis family several years ago, he said. The entire lot is assessed at $7,900. Of that, the small piece, which represents about one-quarter of the property, has a value of less than $2,000, according to Pearson.

The corporation, through the town, obtained $230,000 to rehab the Fossa building. Requests for proposals are being prepared for an architect to design the project. Once that work has been completed, the corporation will solicit bids for the construction. Organizers hope to have the building finished and open next summer.

The corporation has agreed to pay all fees and costs in the execution and recording of the municipal quitclaim deed.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Tuesday, October 13, 2009 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."