Molnlycke's Wiscasset expansion is a go, if a few hurdles are cleared, a company official said December 17.

The board of the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company has approved the add-on to its Rynel plant on Twin Rivers Drive, providing the wound care products maker can buy the building it now leases; that it can design the expansion at a cost that works for the company; and that a proposed tax incentive deal with the town goes through, said James Detert, Molnlycke's business development director for the Americas.

The $5.5 million to $7 million, 32,000-square-foot add-on would nearly double the plant’s size and add 10 to 30 jobs in its first three to five years, according to the company.

Molnlycke announced in July it was considering either the Wiscasset project or another in Brunswick, where it just built a plant at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

It appears the company will be able to buy the Wiscasset building from Ferry Road Development, Detert told selectmen Tuesday night. “It's not definite yet,” he said.

Architects and engineers have been working on a design for the add-on to the 40,000 square-foot plant, Detert said.

“So the (tax deal) is really the remaining piece,” he said.

The proposal would rework an existing tax-incentive deal. If the town passes it, Maine's Department of Economic and Community Development would review its legality. The department's commissioner would need to OK the change, said Shana Cook Mueller, a lawyer for the town.

The change would add another 10 years to the 20-year deal; the company and the town would share in revenue captured from the new construction. Money the town gets would go mostly to paying off infrastructure debts, but about $10,000 of the town’s yearly take would go into marketing and other economic development efforts. Those could include hiring staff or outside consultants, according to materials outlining the proposal.

Selectmen on Tuesday approved the proposal and scheduled a 7 p.m., January 14, 2014 special town meeting at the Wiscasset Community Center for voters to consider it.

“It’s been a long journey,” Detert said about the last several months’ work. He reiterated his past praise of town officials’ efforts.

Town Manager Laurie Smith expressed confidence the pieces will fall into place to make the expansion happen.

“Molnlycke’s getting an expansion in Wiscasset,” she said.

“It has been a long process, but it has been a very fruitful process, I would say,” Smith continued. Molnlycke jobs pay well and the company’s products make people’s lives better, she said.

As she did at the outset of talks last summer, Smith again described Molnlycke as the poster child for a business the town would want to have.