LEWISTON — City Councilor Tim Lajoie said he hasn’t made up his mind about the fate of Bates Mill No. 5, but he knows he wants the city to make a decision, and soon.

“What I’m critical of is that we’ve gone so long on this, and not made a final decision,” he said. “What I told the City Council is, ‘Let’s not extend this out another year. Let’s put everything in front of the public and let’s make a final decision, whether it’s to let it be developed, or tear it down. But let’s make a decision.'”

Councilors will sit down with members of the Finance Committee and Planning Board for a workshop at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 29, to review Platz Associates’ plans for renovating Bates Mill No. 5, the massive saw-tooth-roofed building along Main and Lincoln streets.

Economic Development Director Lincoln Jeffers said he’s expecting a rehash of the Jan. 27 City Council workshop.

“There will be individual actions at the Planning Board level when it gets to that point, as tenants start signing up and the project starts moving forward,” Jeffers said. “And there will be future council actions, as well, but all of those actions are being discussed. So this will, in large measure, be a repeat of what’s (already) been said about Bates Mill No. 5.”

The city has gone back and forth on the fate of the building since 2010, with plans to demolish the structure alternating with proposals to redevelop it.

The plan has moved further along, and developer Tom Platz and his group have signed letters of intent from Central Maine Healthcare and the YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston to be the anchor tenants in the project, occupying about 150,000 square feet in the 350,000-square-foot building.

Platz also is negotiating leases with smaller tenants, enough to occupy at least another 50,000 square feet. Signed leases for at least 200,000 square feet prompted him to begin working with banks to finance the $70 million construction.

Councilors approved an extension to Platz Associates’ purchase option on Feb. 2 but later scheduled the special meeting with the Finance Committee and Planning Board. Lajoie, who brought the matter up to the other councilors, said he wants to bring those boards up to date on the project.

“I’m not a financial expert, so I wanted to bring in our financial experts,” Lajoie said. “I wanted to bring in the Planning Board people and the finance people because I want to hear what they have to say. And then, I think between those three bodies — finance, planning and the council — I think we should have all the information we need to make a decision.”

Lajoie said he’s most concerned with how much the project will benefit or cost the city.

“It needs to make fiscal sense to the city,” he said. “We need to know how much city money is going to be involved, and what the city is going to have to invest.”

According to city memos from the Jan. 27 meeting, proposed investments would include expanding the Lincoln Street garage and connecting it to the main building via a bridge. The city would also add new curbs and drainage to Mill Street. That could be funded by new property taxes paid by Bates Mill No. 5 and parking revenues.

Jeffers said those plans, a joint development agreement and tax incentives, would have to come to the council for a full vote before the project could proceed.

Lajoie said those are the kinds of details he’d like to see settled.

“Let’s get everything on the table now, rather than later, and make a decision,” he said.

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