City to seek funding for new public works garage

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland City Manager Jim Gailey has unveiled a seven-year, $48.8 million capital improvement plan (CIP) that includes $16.7 million in projects for the next fiscal year. Of that amount, “at least” $10 million will be new borrowing, in the form of a bond request to go before voters in November to fund construction of a new public works garage.

“I’ll be honest with you, we have not designed this facility to the extent that we can tell you if it will be $10 million, $12 million, or $15 million,” Gailey told city councilors at a workshop session held Monday evening at the community center.

At a Dec. 12 workshop, councilors unanimously approved a $148,200 study into the possibility of building a new public works complex off Highland Avenue, combining maintenance and storage of those vehicles with fleets belonging to the Parks & Recreation and Public Transportation departments.

The new, 70,000-square-foot building would be built on city-owned property next to the Recycling and Bulk Waste Transfer Station, near the city's capped landfill, and replace the existing 1930s-era complex on O'Neil Street, said to be the target of frequent noise complaints, given its location in the heart of a residential neighborhood.

On Monday, Gailey said the city’s contracted engineering firm, Westbrook-based Sebago Technics, working with partners CSW Architects, Haley & Aldrich Engineers and CONESTCO construction, is “a couple of months” away from submitting its report.

Included in the study will be plans to build a new street, measuring at least 2,500 feet long, to link the site to Duck Pond Road, by the Maine Energy plant, giving plow trucks a more direct route to the western part of the city.

“You will know from that preliminary report whether what we want to do actually fits on the site and get a better idea of what the price is,” said Gailey, admitting that it seems unlikely that the site will prove unusable.

“I think the needle is pointing more toward, ‘It can happen,’” he said. “If they had come up against some roadblocks we would have heard about it by now.”

“I think this is one of our city’s greatest needs,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher.

“We know we need it,” agreed Councilor Tom Coward. “I don’t know what the heck we’re going to do for an alternate site.

The City Council voted unanimously to pencil the $10 million bond item into next year’s budget, with an agreement to revisit the item later, if it turns out more money will be needed.

That might be a hard sell. At the December workshop, two councilors – Gerald Jalbert and Rosemarie De Angelis – said they are "not yet sold" on the need for a new building.

Coward intimated that part of the reason for budgeting the garage now is to get an early start on what could be a touchy public relations campaign.

“I’ve had a lot of pushback asking, ‘Do we really need to spend this kind of money on a public works facility,’ mostly from people who have never seen the public works facilty,” said Coward. “I think most people who have taken the tour are pretty convinced that we need to do something different.

“The long game is that we need to get the word out as soon as we can, even if we don’t know everything,” said Coward, “so people can mull it over to get used to the idea.”

The next biggest project for the year is the $1.7 million Knightville sewer separation project, which will tear up Ocean Street and Cottage Road to direct stormwater out of the sewer pipes in that area, to keep them from backing up and dumping effluent into Casco Bay during heavy rain events. Reconstruction of the street, including widening sidewalks and installing energy-efficient LED streetlights, will cost $1.44 million. Most of that work will be funded with tax increment financing fund reserves already on hand, as well as with state and federal highway grants, creating almost no impact on taxpayers.

A similar sewer separation project will be done on Mussey Street at a cost of $200,000, using TIF reserve funds and CIP money left over from the current fiscal year.

The other big-ticket item is a new $450,000 fire engine, which will replace Engine 8 (a 2005 E-One pumper) at the Central Fire Station. That unit will be sent to the Cash Corner Call Company to replace its 1991 International engine. Most of the money for the new engine ($350,000) will come from general fund reserves.

In addition to various vehicle and mower purchases, other significant items in the CIP budget include:

• $500,000 for the street paving program.

• $368,870 for various bicycle and pedetrian traffic projects.

• $175,000 for a new sidewalk plow.

• $171,000 to upgrade the sewer pump station serving the Western Avenue area.

• $136,010 for patch work on Dartmouth Street, Rumery Street and East Broadway.

• $100,000 to repair sidewalks throughout the city.

• $80,000 for façade improvements and roof repairs at city hall.

• $80,000 for IT equipment and computer upgrades.

• $50,000 to install bike racks throughout the city.

• $50,000 to build a playground at the Wainwright Field complex.

• $15,000 to replace HVAC equipment at the branch library.

• $15,000 to paint and recoat the main library.

• $12,000 to replace original 30-year-old filter motors at the municipal pool.

The only item on which some councilors appeared to balk was $50,000 as “the tip of the iceberg” in improvements to the Wilkinson Park Building at the end of New York Avenue, given to the city by the developers of Sunset Park and occasionally rented for private birthday parties and baby showers.

“I think we need to have a discussion of what to do with that building,” said Councilor Tom Blake, requesting it was a future workshop topic. “That’s an awfully big investment for a building I’m not sure we have a long-term plan on.”