KENNEBUNKPORT – Voters could cast ballots on funding for a new town office in November 2023.
If that happens and the vote is affirmative, construction on new municipal offices – which are poised to include meeting and election space – could commence in 2024, with a view to occupancy about September 2025.
That is the proposed timeline laid out by Town Manager Laurie Smith in an October update to the board of selectmen.
The town awarded the design and engineering contract, which includes geotechnical, engineering, architectural, and permitting, to Sebago Technics, at a cost not to exceed $290,000, on Sept 22.
Smith said the conceptual design phase public input would be ongoing for the rest of 2022 and into the first half of 2023. She said the cost estimates for construction would likely be available in the summer of 2023, with a possible November election.
The town office at 6 Elm St. is the workplace for 13 people, and the municipal operation has outgrown the 3,723-square-foot building, which was first used as a combined town office and fire station in the late-1950s.
Municipal meetings and elections are held at the Village Fire Station at 32 North St.
An assessment of space needs completed in 2019 shows the current departments housed within the town offices would need a little less than 10,000 square feet for current needs and future growth, including a public meeting space.
The likely location is the town-owned site called the Village Parcel. The town purchased the 87-acre Village Parcel, which runs from North Street to School Street, for $10 million through a referendum vote in 2018, with the possibility of several uses, including municipal services.
Prior to the current town office and former fire station, a 40-foot by 80-foot town hall, designed by artist Abbott Graves, was built in 1902 by Octavious Hutchins. It was next to the Drown House (later Wink’s Store) at Town House Corners, according to research conducted by Sharon Cummins for Kennebunkport Historical Society. The price at that time was $2,569.84, Cummins said. When North Kennebunkport broke off from Kennebunkport in 1916, Kennebunkport town offices were moved to the second floor of the fire station of the day.
The old 1902 town hall was purchased by private concerns, dismantled, and moved to 32 North St., where it was used as a 500-seat theater venue and later as St. Martha Church. It was purchased by the town in 1997 and demolished to make way for Village Fire Station and municipal parking lot. Municipal records show the fire station was built in 2002.
“I think the timeline is good,” said Ed Hutchins, chair of the board of selectmen. He said the timeline gives ample opportunity to meet with various stakeholders and come up with a comprehensive proposal.
“Plus, the pier will be finished,” said selectman Allen Daggett of an upcoming overhaul of Cape Porpoise Pier.
“We are certainly in need of a larger space,” said Hutchins, including meeting facilities.
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