SEARSPORT - Voters at a special town meeting Thursday approved spending up to $475,000 toward completing a nearly-20-year-old program of repairs to the town wharf. 

Roughly 80 people attended the meeting at Union Hall, Nov. 14, according to town officials. The group approved the measure by a show of hands.

The wharf dates to the 1800s and was built as a stop for passenger steamboats on the way to Boston. The wooden structure of the original design was replaced in the early 1970s with a cribwork and ballast system, which held up until 1996.

That year saw the tail ends of three hurricanes hit the coast of Maine. According to Town Manager James Gillway, one of those storms, “basically obliterated the end of the dock.”

The cost of replacing the structure was too much for the town to shoulder at once, Gillway said, and the project was divided into five phases.

Three of these have been completed, and the fourth, which would have repaired a small “finger” of the wharf, was deemed unnecessary for the time being. The section was shored up three years ago as a stop-gap measure, and Gillway said the temporary fix has held up well enough to skip ahead to the final phase.

The current plan is to replace a bad section on the main part of the wharf, swap an old ramp with a new ADA-compliant aluminum one, add a float, and improve the lighting and electrical service at the facility.

To offset the cost of repairs, the town has applied for two grants: a $62,752 federal Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) designed to attract vessels in excess of 25 feet to a facility; and a $250,000 Small Harbor Improvement Program (SHIP) grant from the state.

Gillway expressed optimism about the SHIP grant, noting that the state upped its local matching funds requirements this year from the 20- to 30-percent typical of years past.

“This time, when they put it up to 50-percent, they didn’t get as many applicants. So it puts us in a better position,” he said. “Plus we’re in dire need of these repairs.”

Whether the grants come through or not, Gillway said, the major structural work can’t be put off any longer.

According to an engineer’s estimate, a basic rehabilitation of the wharf will cost over $750,000. 

The amount approved by voters on Thursday will come from a $600,000 sum Searsport drew down from the Maine State Retirement System in 2012, Gillway said. The money had been held in reserve based on regular payments made since the 1960s.

“It won’t raise a dime of taxes to do this project,” he said.

If Searsport is successful in its bid for the state and federal grants, Gillway said there could be money left over for other projects.

Among these are potential pedestrian and traffic improvements to Main Street in collaboration with the state Department of Transportation, and a solution for the North Searsport fire station and the municipal public works buildings, both of which Gillway described as being at the end of their lifespan.

If the town doesn’t get the grants, Gillway said, an additional request will probably come up the annual town meeting in March.

“We have to do this project this [coming] year,” he said, “Our backs are against the wall.”

By the same token, Gillway sees the completion of the wharf project as an investment that could pay dividends in the years to come.

“Boating has become pretty big in the area with the addition of Front Street Shipyard and we want to attract some of those folks to the facility [Hamilton Wharf],” he said. “It’s located so close to the downtown with the shops and restaurants and the Penobscot Marine Museum.”

“No matter how we go, we’re going to complete this in 2014,” he said.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com