ROCKPORT – Rockport Properties LLC and Glen Cove TND LLC, the two businesses currently making extensive renovations to the historic Union Hall in Rockport Village, are proposing several public improvement projects to benefit the building, and the town.

Mike Sabatini, project manager, will update the Rockport Select Board this evening at a regularly scheduled meeting at the Rockport Opera House, beginning at 7 p.m.

In addition to hearing about possible village sidewalk and sewer improvements, the agenda includes a request from Rockport resident Richard Strong to purchase a small piece of property in the Mistic subdivision that is currently owned by the town; committee appointments; and a discussion about the Mary Lea Park, and plantings along the sidewalk there.

The board will also consider appointment of a Freedom of Access Officer and discuss an All Hazards Risk Assessment for the proposed Searsport liquified petroleum gas facility at Mack Point.

According to Town Manager Bob Peabody, the Freedom of Access Officer appointment results from recent state law changes that expand Maine's Act to Amend the Laws Governing Freedom of Access. For municipalities and state agencies, this means designating an existing staff member to be responsible for overseeing responses to public requests for public records, and initiating a prompt response to such requests.

 Union Hall

Sabatini will describe the drainage work for Union Hall, which, if approved, will benefit the town-owned Rockport Opera House, Mary Lea Park, and the Shepherd Block parking lot. Rockport Properties LLC would gift the drainage improvements on the town-owned property to Rockport, with the company picking up all costs.

The company is in discussions with Fish and Ships LLC (Rockport Marine), as well, according to Peabody, for a drainage easement benefitting Glen Cove TND LLC and the town of Rockport. All work on the town's property is to be overseen by the public works director.

In addition, Rockport Properties LLC is offering to share the cost of improving the Central Street sidewalk. Work would entail extending a short stretch of the current sidewalk down Main Street to the parking lot. Rockport Properties LLC is proposing to pay for engineering and installation labor and the town to pay for materials. The estimated town's cost is $6,219.50. The proposed project will also benefit the recently constructed path from Marine Park to Main Street by providing a crosswalk to the new sidewalk, Peabody said.

The Union Hall project also includes using a portion of the lower end of Mary Lea Park for expanded parking. Rockport Properties LLC owns that part of the park, and said it will allow public use of the remaining unimproved area, and provide steps and landscaping.