Amphibians protected; prison project to begin

AUGUSTA — With protections for displaced frogs, newts and salamanders accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the construction of a new state prison in the town of Warren is slated to begin Monday, project planners said Thursday.

Maine Corrections Commissioner Donald Allen said the federal permit was issued after reviewers determined that plans to protect and transfer amphibians on the 35-acre construction site, part of 900 acres owned by the state, are adequate.

Allen also said a contract with the local sanitary district for sewer service to the site was signed Wednesday night.

An adjustable construction contract worth nearly $11 million was awarded to The Sheridan Corporation of Portland, project planners said.

The first phase of the project, which corrections officials hope to expand, is designed to build a 100-bed maximum-security facility. The construction period is estimated at 18 months.

“We have received the environmental permits because we have adequately tucked in the frogs, the red-spotted newts and the salamanders,” Allen said. “At long last, after a lot of hard work, we’ve got a go.”

A bond issue for the first phase of the planned prison was approved by state voters in 1986, but Corrections Department officials did not receive a final legislative go-ahead until the following year. Last year, another borrowing plan designed to cover a second phase of construction failed at the polls.

In the wake of the defeat of that $35 million bond issue, state officials have advanced a smaller and more varied prison system borrowing plan for consideration by voters this fall.

The new $20.2-million bond issue includes $14.2 million to finance construction of a second 100 beds at Warren. Officials hope eventually to expand the facility to 500 beds.

Allen said officials hope to have the new Warren prison in operation sometime during the first quarter of 1992.

Project planners, to obtain a wetlands permit, agreed to a variety of environmental enhancements, including steps to maintain a stream through the site and tree cutting to promote habitat for woodcock, according to a state consultant.

Roy Spugnardi, president of Allied Architects-Engineers of Gorham, also said plans call for the creation of 18 pools for amphibians native to the location. Eggs would be transferred from the construction site to the pools in some instances, he said.

A little more than 5 acres of the construction site is classified as wetlands, according to Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Jay Clement. He said the permit approval would cover all three phases of construction planned for the site.

Allen said a 500-bed maximum-security prison in Warren eventually would supplant the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, where the regular census recently has run between 485 and 495. He said the Thomaston facility ideally would hold no more than about 350 prisoners.