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Because Little Squaw Township, soon to be known as Moosehead Junction Township, is so close to Greenville Junction, town officials are considering a joint application with the Piscataquis County commissioners for Community Development Block Grant funds to develop a revitalization plan for both areas. A public hearing on the proposed revitalization project will be held at 6:30 tonight at the Masonic Lodge. Any suggestions made at this meeting will be incorporated into a proposal to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development for a planning grant. "Our intent is to apply for a $10,000 planning grant," Greenville Town Manager John Simko said Monday. It made sense, he said, to include both the township and the junction in the proposal because they are so close together. "This is sort of a small step forward," he said. If the town and county receive the planning grant, a revitalization plan will be developed, Simko said. That plan will need adoption by both the town and the Piscataquis County commissioners before the two boards apply for a $400,000 CDBG grant to carry out the plan. The submission for the large grant likely will be two years from now, he said. Asked how optimistic he is for the town to receive another $400,000 grant, Simko replied that he thinks it will be an "uphill struggle." Recognizing that struggle, Simko said developers of the revitalization plan will be asked to identify other funding sources that might allow the projects to be done in a piecemeal approach. But the selling point, according to Simko, is that the junction and township are very distinct from the village. The junction has its own post office and ZIP code separate from the village. Depending on where one draws the line between the junction and the village, Simko said the junction and township includes four restaurants, a gasoline station and general store, a hospital, a museum, a nursing home, the junction wharf, a bank, a motel and a recycling center. It also is the center for all industrial growth in the town. Among projects discussed to date include sidewalk improvements, facade improvements, outdoor lighting and landscaping, improvements to provide a better line of sight under the railroad trestle, parking lot development and gazebo construction, according to Simko. A second public hearing on the proposed project will be held later, before submission of the planning grant application by February 2001. |