Yarmouth voters would be asked to approve borrowing nearly $2.9 million to build an addition to the town’s public works garage, under a scaled-back proposal that would delay replacing the cramped and outdated facility on North Road.

Town officials have dropped a nearly $8 million proposal to raze and replace the garage, which would have required a Little League field to be moved.

The cheaper option calls for a 6,000-square-foot addition to the 8,300-square-foot garage, including two vehicle maintenance bays for washing and working on public works trucks and school buses.

The $2.9 million price includes $375,000 to buy a single-family house and 1.5 acres next door, to allow future expansion of the public works complex, said Town Manager Nat Tupper.

“This is a first phase,” Tupper said. “It makes our public works operations safer, more efficient and more environmentally sound. It doesn’t address the fact that we have a 1950s-era building that needs a lot of work and probably should be torn down and rebuilt at some point.”

The Town Council will hold a public hearing on the garage proposal Sept. 20 and is expected to ask voters to approve the project’s bond on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Advertisement

Also on the November ballot, voters will be asked to approve borrowing $1.5 million to install a new synthetic turf football field at Yarmouth High School because the existing one is worn, uneven and hazardous to players.

The town recently paid off two 20-year-old construction bonds — one for Harrison Middle School and the other for the upgraded sewage treatment plant — freeing up more than $800,000 a year that had been dedicated to debt payments.

The existing cinder-block and metal garage is too small and outdated to meet the town’s modern public works needs, which now include school-bus maintenance as a cost-saving measure, Tupper said.

The building no longer meets operational, energy, air-quality and environmental-safety standards, he said. A large blue tarp separates the area where vehicles are washed from the area where equipment is maintained.

The council has agreed to pay Judy Knaub $375,000 for her 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom home at 52 North Road. An independent appraiser valued the property at $388,000 when Knaub refinanced her home in March 2011.

 

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.