Harpswell Selectmen selected Woolwich-based construction company Reed & Reed to remove the dilapidated former Navy pier at Mitchell Field at their meeting Thursday evening.
The town received three bids for the project. Reed & Reed submitted two bid options, one for removing demolition material of the pier by barge and the other for bringing demolition material on shore and trucking it away from there.
“Reed & Reed’s bids were the least expensive,” said Barney Baker of Baker Design Associates. “The land side — that’s where all that material is brought on shore and distributed from there — was significantly cheaper.”
The contract for $3,157,765 was approved unanimously by the selectmen.
One requirement of the lower bid from Reed & Reed, said Baker, was that work on the pier at Mitchell Field be allowed to continue through the summer.
According to Baker, Reed & Reed’s schedule for the project is accelerated, with mobilization for the project beginning in December and project work beginning at some point in January 2018. Marine work should be completed in the spring, in which all demolition material would be removed from the ocean and placed on shore. Over the summer and into the fall, the company would break up the concrete and materials, process it and transport it away from the site.
“It would be complete, according to their schedule, sometime in essentially September (2018),” said Baker, although he said the town can’t hold the company to that schedule if there are delays.
Funding for the project was secured at the Annual Town Meeting in March, when voters approved the issuance of bonds up to $5 million for the demolition of the pier.
Treasurer Marguerite Kelly projected that the project would likely come in at significantly less than the full $5 million, and the town would likely only issues bonds for $4 million or less.
The town has tentatively scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for next Thursday, with a time to be decided.
nstrout@timesrecord.com
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