Belfast officially opens new public works facility, breaks ground on solar array

Wed, 10/16/2019 - 3:30pm
Ribbon cutting in front of the new public works facility: Jody Seekins Jr., Jay Hassepelis, Kip Faulkner, Scott Sawyer, Bob Richards, Alan Armstrong, Mary Mortier, Brian Richter, Steve Warman, Brandon Peasley. (Photo courtesy Ledgewood Construction)
Will Gartley, Gartley & Dorsky Engineering and Surveying Inc., Peter Wormell (Ledgewood Construction), Scott Clark (Ledgewood Construction), Pete Pelletier (Ledgewood Construction), Mary Mortier (City Council) and Bob Richards (Public Works Director). (Photo courtesy Ledgewood Construction)
City Manager Joseph Slocum leads the ceremony. (Photo courtesy Ledgewood Construction)

    The City of Belfast celebrated two new projects Oct. 15: the Belfast Public Works Facility and solar array field.

    Approximately 50 public works employees and community members gathered outside the buildings to properly recognize the new Public Works facility, a project that the department has been anticipating, for many years, release from the contracted company, Ledgewood Construction.

    Belfast partnered with Gartley and Dorsky Engineering & Surveying Inc., of Rockport; Jon Hansen Architects, of Rockland; and Ledgewood Construction, of South Portland, as the construction manager on the project. 

    The new public works facility is 27,700 square feet, almost twice the size of the old one.

    With 17 bay doors, two heated and one unheated truck bays, there is plenty of room to house the 40 pieces of equipment owned by the department, which includes plow trucks, loaders, graders, sidewalk machines and more, said department head Bob Richards. There’s a large indoor vehicle wash bay that has hot water, which is a big improvement and should keep vehicles in better repair. Included in the project was a new 9,000 square-foot sand and salt shed.

    The City also broke ground for a five-acre solar array that was built next to the facility.  This is the third solar array in the city and allows Belfast to offset at least 90 percent of its municipal electric costs.

    “A lot of planning went into making this building as close to net zero as possible,” said Belfast City Councilor Mortier said. “The solar field is part of it.”

    During the ceremony, Mortier thanked Will Gartley, of Gartley & Dorsky, as well as Pete Pelletier, Scott Clark and Peter Wormell from Ledgewood, saying the project would not have gone on as well as it did, if it wasn’t for the great team they had behind it, according to the news release.

    “She especially recognized Superintendent Peter Wormell, who was always thinking of the next steps and things that they might want or need, as the building was being built,” the release said. “It was a real team effort and the project was run very smooth, without any large challenges, and finished on time and under budget.”

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