LEWISTON — Councilors cleared the way for the city to take ownership of Lewiston’s downtown canals Tuesday night.

Councilors unanimously supported an agreement with Canada-based Brookfield to claim city ownership of the canals.

City Administrator Ed Barrett said the city and Brookfield now must begin the federal regulatory process to trade the canals.

“That’s going to be Brookfield taking the canal system out of their license,” Barrett said. “At some point, the city will look at abandoning our energy-generation rights on the canal, but that’s a decision we get to make later on.”

The city has been negotiating to take over canals for more than seven years, and been close to settling three times. Each instance called for the city to give up its claim to keep at least 150 cubic feet per second flowing in the canals.

The current deal gives Lewiston control of the canals while keeping the historic water levels flowing through them.

“Basically we have an agreement, subject to regulatory approval, on some the things necessary to implement it. And that approval is probably going to take a while to work out,” Barrett said.

The city and Brookfield have until December 2018 to close on the agreement.

“We don’t think it will take that long, but we needed to put it out that far just in case we run into any problems,” Barrett said.

Councilors gave the canal deal initial approval back in April, before sending out to Lewiston’s lawyers for a review. On Tuesday, they were pleased with the agreement.

“I can tell you the City Council previous to this council really investigated our options,” Councilor Mike Lachance said. “We took a lot of time. And fortunately, with this council, this developed and I’m very pleased. It’s probably the best thing we could expect.”

The canals run for more 1.5 miles through the downtown, beginning just downstream of the Great Falls and rejoining the river just south of Locust Street. The system includes two main canals, upper and lower, and two cross canals. Water levels are controlled by the gate house at the top canal system.

The canals date back to the mid-1800s when they were first dug to harness the Androscoggin River’s power for industry. At first, they were owned by Lewiston Water Power Co., later called Union Power. That was later taken over by Central Maine Power. Florida Power and Light took over the canals and was eventually renamed NextEra Energy Maine and sold the canals to Canada-based Brookfield in 2012.

staylor@sunjournal.com