On March 31, Town Manager Matt Lutkus sent a disappointing email to residents of Elm Street and Theater Street in Damariscotta, who were looking forward to having sidewalks fixed and water pipes replaced as part of a Community Development Block Grant application that was approved by citizens at a special town meeting in February.

At that meeting, the town had agreed to set aside $65,000 as the town’s match for the project, plus an additional $30,000 from the Richard Else Sidewalk Bequest Fund. Lutkus said that he hoped that at least part of the project would still be able to be performed with those funds, and also additional funds that are available through the Else Bequest. The original total cost of the project was estimated to be nearly $400,000.

He wrote in the email to residents, “My understanding is that future Damariscotta CDBG grant applications for the same project will meet a similar fate.”

The only communities that were funded were towns that were under a consent decree or some kind of order to improve their utility systems. Damariscotta, and Great Salt Bay Sanitary District, are not under any such mandate.

Three towns that also have mandates to improve their utilities did not receive funding this year, and will likely apply again next year, so Lutkus does not believe that Damariscotta’s application will be successful in future years.

The Public Works Committee will meet next week to begin to develop recommendations about what can be done with the funds already set aside, as well as the possible use of some of the Else bequest funds, Lutkus wrote.