BATH
The city council voted in favor of having a facilities committee oversee the review of buildings, parks and roadways throughout Bath and creating a master plan for sustainability and financing. The committee will be made up of existing city council members and will make recommendations to the city council on how to proceed in the upkeep of facilities.
“When you start looking into what you have to do to replace these buildings in the future, I think this committee would be in good hands with the city council,” said Bath City Manager Bill Giroux. “This is a good direction to go in. My idea is to analyze what the needs are and how we can spread them out among the council.”
Some of the buildings that the committee will review include Bath Fire Department, Bath Police Department, the Bath Public Works garage, Bath City Hall and any future or vacant school facilities.
“After going through the city budget I realized this a good time to take a long hard look at the buildings we want to keep and the ones we want to consider whether or not that’s the best idea,” said Council Chairwoman Mari Eosco.
The 2018 budget for the City of Bath will be presented on May 17.
The first facilities committee meeting will take place next month.
Also on Wednesday evening, Economics Director Scott LeFlamme led a request for proposals for a mixed-use apartment building to be erected on the open lot at 26 Summer St., that site of the former YMCA building. The building was demolished in 2012, and the lot has since stood empty.
The idea for an RPF was first proposed to the council in December, and in Wednesday’s meeting two prospective developers — the Szanton Company and the NewHeight Group, both of Portland — made their bids for the job. The developers are backed by Bath Housing Authority and Community Housing of Maine, respectively.
“This is meant to be preliminary,” said LeFlamme. “We aren’t talking numbers or anything, just sort of conceptual designs to get an idea of what people are thinking for this property.”
Both developers proposed mixed-use, affordable housing apartments for the building.
The city council will decide in private on how to proceed in choosing the correct developer, and what the next steps entail going forward. They will present their findings at the next city council Meeting on June 7.
bgoodridge@timesrecord.com
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