Harpswell officials are soliciting bids to remove two houses and two other structures from Mitchell Field on Harpswell Neck Road (Route 123). May 31 is the deadline to submit bids. (Darren Fishell / The Times Record)
Town Manager Kristi Eiane said that the town currently has no use for the buildings and seeks to have them removed to eliminate a liability on the former Navy fuel depot property that Harpswell acquired in 2001.
Bids for removal and relocation as well as demolition will be considered, Eiane said.
“The ultimate objective is to get them off the site,” Eiane said.
As town officials have said of the West Harpswell School, Eiane said she did not see the town becoming a landlord for those buildings and that insurance costs and the risk of vandalism both deter the town from retaining ownership of the buildings.
Eiane said that bids can be submitted separately for each of the four structures or on one sheet with the amount offered for each building broken out separately.
After the buildings are removed, the lawn will be reseeded, Eiane said. For the long term, Eiane said the town’s master plan includes moving the current entrance to Mitchell Field and placing a housing development near that location.
“Whether we’ll implement that, we’re not sure,” Eiane said.
According to municipal documents, the first of the houses — identified as House 162 — has an 856-square-foot footprint and the second house — House 163 — covers 912 square feet.
During the March 29 Board of Selectmen meeting, resident Eric Field expressed interest in moving one of the buildings to his property on Allen Point Road.
Field requested time to conduct a formal review of the building before moving ahead with a bid to relocate that house.
The work of removal or demolition would include the entire building, foundation, backfilling that foundation and properly disconnecting electrical, plumbing and water connections to the buildings.
The deadline for proposals to be hand-delivered to the town office at 263 Mountain Road or mailed to the Town of Harpswell, P.O. Box 39, Harpswell, ME 04079 is May 31.
On May 3 at 10 a.m., prospective bidders are invited to join in a site inspection with Codes Enforcement Officer William Wells at the site at 1410 Harpswell Neck Road.
For more information, call Deputy Town Administrator Terri Sawyer at 833-5771. For a full bidding application, visit http://goo.gl/6JC1C.
dfishell@timesrecord.com
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