The Kittery Town Council on Monday approved two agreements that will allow the vacant Wood Island Life Saving Station to be restored and opened to the public.

The life-saving station – once used to spot mariners in distress – fell into disrepair after sitting empty for more than 60 years, but a local group rallied to save and restore the building. In 2013, the council approved a repair agreement to allow the Wood Island Life Saving Station Association to restore the exterior of the building.

On Monday, the council voted 4-3 to approve a repair agreement to allow restoration of the entire building and a concession agreement that will allow public access. The National Park Service will need to approve the concession agreement.

Councilors Charles Denault, Kenneth Lemont, Gary Beers and Russell White voted in favor of the agreements. Councilors Frank Dennett, Jeffrey Thomson and Judith Spiller voted against the agreements.

The restoration project is scheduled to start this spring and could be done by 2018. The restoration will be funded using a $200,000 grant from the National Park Service in partnership with the Maritime Administration; $200,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency; a $200,000 grant from the state of Maine to match the park service grant; and $100,000 in private donations.

The Wood Island Life Saving Station opened in 1908 as an operation base for the U.S. Life Saving Service, which eventually became part of the U.S. Coast Guard. The building was used as a life-saving station until 1941, when the Navy took control of it and used it as a base to watch for Nazi submarines that might be headed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The building has been vacant since it was decommissioned in 1948. The federal government gave the station to the town of Kittery in 1973.

The long-term goal of the preservation group is to open the station as a museum.

Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or:

ggraham@pressherald.com

Twitter: grahamgillian

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