Shaw Brothers Construction of Gorham is planning to build a $3 million portable asphalt plant and eventually a $10 million permanent asphalt plant on its land on Mosher Road.
Danny Shaw, one of the owners of Shaw Brothers, presented the company’s plans to the Gorham Town Council Tuesday night.
“We’re in dire need of an asphalt plant,” said Shaw.
The initial portable plant would produce the asphalt but would not include other necessary components like rock crushers and conveyers that Shaw Brothers now has at its other sites. The company’s plan is to eventually have all the needed equipment for the asphalt production process permanently located at the Mosher Road site.
Shaw Brothers Construction bought 115 acres on Mosher Road several months ago from LaChance Brick. Since then, Shaw Brothers has acquired additional land.
Shaw said the proposed plant could be “fired” with natural gas. He said it would be a clean and neat operation.
The property is zoned industrial. “It does have proper zoning,” said Walt Stinson of Sebago Technics, the engineering firm representing the construction company.
Stinson said there are few homes near the site proposed for the plant. He said the asphalt plant would rest on a five-acre pad of asphalt.
Stinson said the project would include removing a hill to make way for a 60 acre quarry. A 19 acre pond would be built in another phase. He said the site in the future could be transformed into an industrial subdivision.
The construction company is not asking for a tax break for the project. “We don’t believe in TIFs,” Shaw told the town council, referring to tax increment financing.
The Gorham Planning Board will walk the site later this month. Planning Board members planned to accompany representatives of Shaw Brothers Construction in a visit to an asphalt plant Thursday.
Responding to a question from town councilor Burleigh Loveitt, who asked the significance to Gorham, Stinson said an asphalt plant would pave the way for more competitive pricing on asphalt locally.
Town Manager David Cole said competition in the production of asphalt has diminished in recent years. Cole said the price has risen from $34 to $50 a ton in the past two years.
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