SKOWHEGAN — Voters on Wednesday gave the green light for town officials to sign off on a lease agreement for the River Park project decades in the making.

The lease delegates nearly all of the financial responsibility and liability for the project to Main Street Skowhegan, a local economic revitalization nonprofit that has long spearheaded planning and fundraising efforts for the River Park and expects to manage its operations.

It is one of the last steps needed before construction, slated for early next year, can begin, according to project organizers.

Town officials said the lease was necessary to formalize the relationship with Main Street Skowhegan, because some of the project will be on town property along the Kennebec River. 

“I feel like this lease agreement protects us and allows Main Street Skowhegan to move forward, so we can all move forward together,” Whitney Cunliffe, chair of the select board, said at Wednesday’s special town meeting. “I fully support this project.”

About 50 Skowhegan voters braved the snow to attend the meeting at the Skowhegan Opera House. It started about 25 minutes late because of moderator Ken Lexier’s tardiness. 

Once Lexier arrived, voters endorsed the article. They also approved two other agenda items: authorizing town officials to spend up to $16,000 to buy a small parcel to create a necessary vehicle turnaround on Red Bridge Road and making a minor tweak to the ordinance that governs how town police officers are appointed.

The lease approved is a 10-year agreement, renewable for up to three, five-year extensions, to cover the first phase of the River Park as well as a related riverfront boardwalk development. That includes an adjustable whitewater surf and kayak wave, an access road into the river on the south side, and the first 4,500 square feet of riverfront boardwalk on the north side, extending 130 feet west from the walking bridge.

The lease requires Main Street Skowhegan to pay $1 per year for use of several lots on both the north and south banks of the river gorge near downtown. 

Main Street Skowhegan would be responsible for paying for utilities and most maintenance, aside from landscaping and snow removal in unchanged areas that the town already maintains, like the municipal parking lot. 

The organization will also be required to maintain multimillion-dollar liability insurance policies that also name the town as an insured party.

Among many other details of the arrangement, the lease also specifies that when it ends, the town would take ownership of the improvements and Main Street Skowhegan would be responsible for the eventual decommissioning of the in-river infrastructure.

In September, the town and Main Street Skowhegan drafted two less formal agreements for the first phase of the River Park. A vote on approving them was tabled and the idea to put their responsibilities in writing morphed into the more formal lease.

Overall plans for the project, formerly known as Run of River, include improved river access, whitewater paddling and surfing features, and other recreation infrastructure, including a riverfront boardwalk and a four-season trail system along the river.

Supporters believe the River Park will play a key role in efforts to develop Skowhegan into a regional outdoor destination. 

Various delays over the years have pushed back the beginning of construction. Final permits from the federal government were issued last summer.

Currently, construction of both the first phase of the River Park and the riverfront boardwalk is anticipated to begin in early 2026, said Kristina Cannon, president and CEO of Main Street Skowhegan. Orono-based Sargent Corp. has been hired as contractor for the River Park work; a request for bids is expected soon for the boardwalk work.

Main Street Skowhegan says so far it has secured about $6.1 million to start construction of the River Park’s first phase.

That figure includes $4.89 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, about $1 million from Skowhegan’s Sappi tax increment financing agreement, about $200,000 the nonprofit has raised and a $75,000 donation from New Balance. The federal grant was technically awarded to the town but Cannon said federal officials said Main Street Skowhegan can use the funds.

Cannon said last week that more fundraising is necessary to begin construction, and she is working to secure that money.

As for the riverfront boardwalk, in 2022, $2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was awarded through a Congressional earmark. Of that, $1 million is set aside for initial construction.

At Wednesday’s meeting, select board member Amber Lambke reminded voters the River Park has been in the works since 2003.

“I am hopeful that the town, which conceived of this project in the first place and found extraordinary capacity in Main Street’s organizational leadership to carry forward,” Lambke said, “will in the future accept some of the shared burden and not just the benefits of this project.”