FARMINGTON — After reviewing the initial draft of a downtown development plan, selectmen have decided to hold an informal workshop to set clearer direction so the plan can move forward.

The board agreed in July to contract with a professional consulting firm for assistance in creating a tax increment financing district for the downtown area.

Before the TIF district can be established, a downtown redevelopment plan is required. The plan includes defining the downtown district, compiling data needed for it and a one-to-three-year action plan.

The focus of a downtown TIF is revitalization and development and encouragement of new private investments and improvements, according to John Holden of Eaton and Peabody Consulting Group.

The board agreed in July to pay Eaton and Peabody $9,850 to complete the downtown redevelopment plan and $9,500 for work to complete the downtown TIF application. The services will be funded from the town’s existing TIF Reserve Account.

Selectmen requested a broader definition of downtown, one that includes an area spreading to West Farmington.

When three board members reviewed the draft last week, concerns were raised about the role of the Farmington Downtown Association in the plan.

“I was shocked with the initial draft,” said Selectmen Andrew Hufnagel, who questioned the role of the association after town funds paid for it.

The draft is a community plan open to anyone, Holden said, requesting more direction from the board. 

His references in the draft to the FDA role, based on their committee structure, is one that helps coordinate what’s going on, not control of it, he explained.

With Chairman Stephan Bunker and Selectman Jessica Berry absent, Selectman Ryan Morgan, who agreed that that Hufnagel had some valid points, suggested a workshop.

Hufnagel also questioned the reasoning behind the town’s membership in the FDA group and the town’s membership dues, $50 a year.

Town Manager Richard Davis chairs the group’s Design Committee, one that organized summer flowers and secured granite benches for the downtown.

Davis said the only intent for his involvement is improvement of an already great downtown as a whole and not to support to any business.

“Our downtown is the envy of the state. I hear it everywhere I go,” Davis said.

He said he felt strongly enough about the group’s work to pay the dues himself.

“It benefits the entire county (for Farmington, the shiretown) to have a strong downtown,” Davis said.

Hufnagel and Morgan remembered taxpayers’ hesitancy during the last two town meetings to support the Chamber of Commerce, because they didn’t want town funds to support business entities.

The town has funded the chamber for years, but at town meeting this past spring there was a question of whether the chamber would continue to exist and the national organization’s role as a lobbyist, Davis said.

The board agreed to discuss it again when the full board is present and decide whether to add the amount to the March town meeting warrant, letting taxpayers decide whether to fund it.

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