FAIRFIELD — The town has completed demolition of a derelict Main Street convenience store, paving the way for building a public park to serve as a gateway into Fairfield.

The former Busy Bee, near the intersection with Western Avenue, is the third building the town has demolished in the area as part of a long-term plan to improve the downtown.

Crews were at the site Tuesday afternoon to raze the small one-story building. The town bought the former Busy Bee and two adjacent residential properties in late 2013, after complaints from residents that the dilapidated buildings were eyesores, Town Manager Josh Reny said on Wednesday.

The two residential buildings were demolished last year, but the town postponed taking down the Busy Bee in order to see whether the building could be reused. After reasessing the property, the town handed it over to the Fire Department to use for training.

“Once we sat on it for a while, we saw that there was really no purpose for it; (it) was in rough shape,” said Stephanie Thibodeau, a town councilor who sits on Fairfield’s economic and community development committee.

The town plans to put in a parking lot and small town park in the space. The Fairfield Farmers Market plans to relocate to the park from the parking lot of the Church of the Nazarene on Main Street, and the town wants to install a footbridge to connect the site to Mill Island Park, across a narrow channel on the Kennebec River. The town probably will need to get grant money for the bridge project, which could take up to five years, Thibodeau said.

Now that the building is removed, the next step is to get the lot surveyed and develop a site plan with an engineer. Although the whole project won’t be completed this summer, the hope is to clear the lot as a temporary green space, Reny said.

Funding for demolition, planning and construction is provided through the town’s downtown tax increment financing district and isn’t taken from the general fund.

The park will be at a crucial junction — the intersection of Western Avenue and Main Street, which is U.S. Route 201 — and is between the town’s two Interstate 95 exits.

“It’s a gateway for the town, so it’s important for it to be inviting and attractive,” Reny said. “It says a lot about who we are as a community.”

The park is just one of a number of projects the town is pursuing to revitalize its downtown. Reny said the condition of Main Street is one of the top concerns he hears from residents. Until relatively recently, vacant storefronts outnumbered open businesses; but in the past few years, the town has started to turn around.

Derelict structures such as the former Joseph’s Clothing and Sporting Goods building have been demolished, and the former Gerald Hotel has been renovated as senior housing. Although the town’s Economic and Community Development Committee still is developing an updated master plan for downtown revitalization, incremental progress is being made along Main Street, Reny said.

New businesses are expected to open in the Donnelly and creamery buildings at the corner of Main Street and Lawrence Avenue, and an Indian restaurant is expected to open soon across the street from the Gerald.

The town is discussing with the Maine Department of Transportation ways to change the traffic pattern near the railroad bridge on lower Main Street to make the area more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, Reny said.

“All these little things are part of a grand plan. It’s not just being done randomly,” Reny said.

“Hopefully a in a few years we’ll look back and see huge progress,” he added.

Peter McGuire — 861-9239

pmcguire@centralmaine.com

Twitter: PeteL_McGuire

Related Stories