Citizens group to hold meeting > Corinna volunteers work for grant

CORINNA — A new citizen-based volunteer group, the Sebasticook Committee for a Clean Environment, will hold its first formal gathering to discuss an application for a specialized federal grant.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, July 12, at the Corinna Fire Annex.

According to organizer Linda Smith, chairman of the town’s revitalization committee, the meeting will be held to elect a board of directors and explain the federal Technical Assistance Grant to interested residents.

TAGs provide funds to qualified citizens groups at Superfund sites to hire technical personnel to interpret data the federal government provides as Superfund cleanups proceed. The TAG could provide up to $50,000 for SCCE to have technical assistance during the Eastland Woolen Mill environmental cleanup project planned by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The citizens group is intended to represent residents and property owners in the Sebasticook River watershed and to be the vehicle for evaluating or explaining EPA’s handling of the cleanup.

Smith is urging interested residents to attend the organizational meeting of SCCE.

According to Smith, the TAG is a separate grant from a state grant awarded to Corinna recently for the implementation of the town’s comprehensive plan. That $12,000 grant was awarded by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Although the two grants are from different sources for separate uses, all will benefit from the downtown reclamation project in Corinna.

Identified as a federal Superfund location, the former Eastland Mill in downtown Corinna, a massive structure that has towered over the community for decades while polluting town water, is scheduled for removal this year.

The TAG will allow the citizens group to participate in and help direct the reclamation of downtown Corinna. The comprehensive plan will be key to future development and revitalization of the town, Smith said Wednesday.

“It has been incredible,” she said. “Things are moving so quickly, and everyone is so excited.”

Smith said the committee will learn by the end of July if they qualify for the TAG.

Federal officials have estimated it will take $9.2 million and a year and a half for the initial phase of contamination cleanup in the soils where the Eastland Mill sits. During the cleanup, life will be disrupted for area residents — the bridge will be removed, the river and Main Street moved.

It also will smell, Corinna folks have been warned.

But the overall goal is a clean, safe, beautiful downtown, according to residents, who have been meeting for months to create a new vision for their community.

In planning sessions, residents expressed interest in taking advantage of a waterfront area to create a picturesque downtown that would reflect the already picturesque rural sections of Corinna.

Several projects already have begun, including reclamation of the Corinna Union Academy for historical purposes and the construction of a new parsonage at the Corinna United Methodist Church.