OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A proposal for a trash collection building on town land, behind the Milliken Street parking lot, received unanimous approval from the Town Council Tuesday – though some members who are on the fence about the proposal said discussions are in the early stages and a final decision will be made later.

In the past, summer garbage collected from downtown and beach trash barrels were taken to a truck behind the West Grand Avenue public bathrooms, and the trash was hauled to Casella Waste about four times a day, according to Town Manager Larry Mead. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has required that the town move the facility to a new location.

Last summer, the town was granted a temporary approval to house the truck at a parking lot on Imperial Street, and the town is seeking approval from the DEP to house summer trash collections at a permanent location behind the town parking lot.

Jack Sarno and other residents from the Milliken Street area at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting expressed concerns that the proposal could be disruptive to the neighborhood.

Mead said when the truck was parked on Imperial Street, it was about 50 feet away from an apartment building. As the trash was hauled out every few hours or so, it did not sit around and get rancid.

“We literally got not one single complaint,” he said.

Mead noted that the closest building from the proposed location behind the town parking lot would be a hotel 350 feet away.

Mead said the proposed 20-by-40-foot building behind would house the garbage collection truck, and there would be an overhead door on both sides of the building so the driver would be able to drive the truck through. This building design would make the trash collection less disruptive, he said, as the truck would not have to back up, which sounds off a beeping signal.

Councilor Michael Tousignant said he questioned whether the town needed a building for summer trash pick up, as it had never had a building for this purpose in the past.

“I’m not sold on it,” said Shawn O’Neill regarding the building, but said the town, which is in the process of getting DEP approval for the proposed new location, has to have a building proposal in place so if it votes to approve a building later, it will be able to have the building constructed in a timely fashion.

The town considered proposals for a steel structure, a Quonset hut and a wood structure. The estimated cost of the wood structure, the most expensive of the three, including utilities and landscaping, is about $147,000.

Town Councilor Jay Kelley moved the council vote to approve a proposal for a wood building “to move (the process) forward only” and the vote was approved unanimously, with Councilor Kenneth Blow absent.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].