ROCKPORT — Voting unanimously, members of the Rockport Select Board agreed Feb. 11 to make $1.5 million in bond funds available so that the town will to forward with the construction of the $3.5 million Rockport Public Library at 1 Limerock Street, in Rockport Village. The meeting also included a discussion of a proposed $4.25 million sewer extension along Commercial Street, and the possibility of rebuilding the West Rockport Fire Station at the corner of Route 17 and Route 90.

In November 2018, Rockport residents voted 1,067 to 922 in favor of demolishing the existing library and building a new structure, $1.5 million of which would derive from the town with the remaining $2 million to be raised through donations and fundraising campaigns.

It was the duty of the Select Board to make a finding prior to the Feb. 11 meeting that sufficient grants or financial obligations had been made to date for the project to be a success.

Members of the Rockport Library Foundation, the nonprofit tasked with raising the $2 million, spoke at the meeting and provided the Select Board with financial statements outlining monies pledged to date as well as a calendar of fundraising events planned for the remainder of the year.

The Rockport Select Board had asked the Rockport Library Foundation (RLF) and members of the design team for specific donation and construction cost estimates at a meeting last month.

RLF Vice President John Viehman said Feb. 11 that, to date, the group had received $1.3 million of its $2 million goal in pledges, not including a donation of $150,000 which had made earlier that night from the Library Committee.

Select Board member Jeff Hamilton asked Viehman what the major fundraising activities would be in the coming months.

“If you break down the whole year’s activities we’re primarily focused on the major donors for bringing in the majority of the funding,” he responded. “We’re expecting some additional gifts from foundations but they’re relatively modest...we expect to get another $100,000 in that category. From corporate sponsors we’re coming up with a theme of ‘$100,000 from 100 businesses,’ and in community gifts we’re not expecting a huge total from the smaller donors but they’re very important to this process.”

Select Board Chairman Ken McKinley said that, to date, approximately $160,000 of the overall budget has been spent in “soft costs” for the project, including licensing fees, permits, and demolition of the old structure. The board voted unanimously in favor of releasing the $1.5 million in funds, at which time members of the audience burst into applause. 

Extending sewer pipe along Route 1

The board also heard a presentation by Nate McLaughlin, of Portland-based construction Woodard & Curran, who supplied the town with a cost estimate of installing a 1.5 mile-long sewer extension along Commercial Street (Route 1.) The extension would run between Sea Light Lane and South Street, near PenBay Medical Center.

The project, which began in 2014, was included in the town’s Comprehensive Plan with the hope of extending wastewater service to parts of Rockport where development zoning is targeted. The cost of the proposed extension is approximately $4.25 million, and McKinley said that tax increment financing (TIF funds) would be used to pay for it, as well as initial engineering costs and bond payments.

The board is expected to decide in March whether or not to put the project before voters as a warrant article on the June 2019 ballot.

McLaughlin said it was likely that if the town moved forward with the project, Maine Water Company would extend public water service in that area at its own expense.

He said that Woodard & Curran would prepare further cost estimates in the coming months to prepare a bond article for the June vote, and if the project received voter approval it would be sent out to bid over the summer.

He said that once the new sewer line was installed, the wastewater could either be sent toward Rockland or Camden based on Rockport’s interlocal agreements with the neighboring municipalities.

West Rockport Fire Station

Consideration was also given to a development plan involving the extension or reconstruction of the West Rockport Fire Station. An initial plan presented to the board last year by Fire Chief Jason Peasley included expanding the existing building to include additional bays for fire engines, but at the Feb. 11 meeting a site plan was provided which would demolish the facility and rebuild on the site. 

“The existing building is not in the best shape and by the time we get it into shape we would be bumping up against the cost of new construction. At this point we have a desired building location and footprint that allows for a two-bay, four-truck station and related office and meeting space. To fit that onto the lot with appropriate clearance around the building and proper setbacks we need a lot-line from the abutter, Nelson Tolman,” said Town Manager Rick Bates in prepared comments.

Peasley said that another impetus for relocating the building followed a survey by engineering firm Gartley & Dorsky.

“The state [referencing Route 90] owns 15 feet from the street up to where the apron is for the fire trucks [at the existing building.] So if we were to remodel the current fire station – build it, redo it – and then three years down the road the state says ‘we’re going to be redoing the intersection and taking our property,’ we’re not going to have anywhere to put a fire truck,” said Peasley, adding that over the years funds have been set aside for improvements at the facility.

The Select Board agreed to move forward with having a lot-line adjustment proposal prepared so that it could be voted on at a future meeting.

The Rockport Select Board will reconvene Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House.

Reach Louis Bettcher at news@penbaypilot.com