HARPSWELL — Harpswell’s Mitchell Field is continuing its transformation from fuel depot to recreation space, after selectmen picked a contractor and engineering firm to do demolition work and install a dock.
The 112-acre parcel of land on the west side of Harpswell Neck Road served as a former fuel depot for the Brunswick Naval Air Station. The depot closed in 1992, and Harpswell acquired the land in 2001.
Ray Labbe & Sons Inc., in partnership with Field’s Auto, will demolish one building and move another, according to Terri-Lynn Sawyer, Harpswell’s deputy town administrator. Both of the buildings are surrounded by a chain-link fence, which will be left in place.
One of the two buildings is a wooden, single-story structure that measures approximately 16-by-18 feet that was a maintenance building for the water tower.
According to a July 2019 request for proposals for the removal of the two buildings, the town received an unnamed expression of interest in relocating the wooden building rather than demolishing it. As a result, Select Board member Jane Covey said the wooden building will be kept intact and moved.
“There’s someone who wants to rehab it, but I have no idea what he wants to do with it,” said Covey.
The other building is a single-story concrete block structure, measuring 10-by-17 feet. It will be demolished and the contractor will remove the debris. The structure was once connected to the water tower’s risers and helped hold the water tower in place.
During an inspection of the two buildings, asbestos was found in the wooden building’s floor and in the concrete block building’s roof. The contractor will be responsible for the removal and disposal of that and any other hazardous materials found in the buildings.
The soil under where the water tower once stood tested positive for trace results of lead because the water tower was covered in lead paint. As a result, the top 4 inches of soil from the area within the chain-link fence will be removed and taken off-site. Select Board Chairman Kevin Johnson said he does not know where the soil will be brought at this point.
“After both buildings are gone, there aren’t any plans for the land,” said Johnson. “Right now, it’s just a matter of getting it cleaned up.”
The building will be removed sometime in September, according to Sawyer.
The estimated cost of the building removals is just over $15,000. The town budgeted $10,000 for the project, but the remaining cost will be covered by funds left over in this year’s Mitchell Field operations budget.
Seasonal dock and boat ramps
Selectmen also voted to move forward in their plans to build a seasonal dock and float system that would allow recreational boaters to access the water. The board appointed Freeport-based Baker Design Consultants to create a conceptional design for the dock and float system.
“Once they design a plan, then we put that design up for bid for a contractor,” said Johnson.
Selectman Jane Covey said the construction of the dock system does not yet have a timeline because a contractor has not yet been selected. However, Covey said the dock will be ready for Harpswell boaters to use by next summer.
“It’s good to see things with Mitchell Field moving along,” said Covey.
The project was initially approved by voters in March at Harpswell’s annual town meeting.
The project would add a seasonal floating pier system at the end of the causeway at Mitchell Field. The six 10-by-20-foot floats would be available for either commercial or recreational users. An 80-foot ADA-compliant ramp would connect the floating pier system to the end of the causeway.
The Maine Department of Transportation agreed to pay for half of the dock project, which prohibits the Select Board from opening the cost proposals of incoming plans. As a result, the town officials don’t know how much the project will cost, according to Sawyer.
The dock system and removal of the two buildings are the latest steps the town has taken to improve the space after the water tower was dismantled.
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