City facing wintertime security at Waterworks

BANGOR – With winter fast approaching and frequent vandalism taking its toll on the historic Waterworks buildings, city workers want to take extra measures to keep the weather and the troublemakers out.

Tired of endlessly replacing the plywood coverings on the doors and window openings in the 19th-century State Street complex, city officials will consider spending about $6,000 to install reinforced plywood to secure the buildings.

“Short of going there with an ax and hacking their way in, this should keep people out,” said Code Enforcement Officer Daniel Wellington, noting that the system was designed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to protect hurricane-damaged homes from intruders.

The City Council will decide whether to fund the project at its Monday meeting.

Several forced entries into the buildings in recent weeks prompted the request, Wellington told members of the city’s finance committee at their Monday meeting. The committee, without opposition, voted to recommend the plan to the full council.

“My concern is that someone’s going to break in there, we’re going to miss it and the place will stay open for 24 hours,” the code officer said Wednesday. “Then some kids might get in there, and there are some very dangerous spots.”

A dark and dreary place on the banks of the Penobscot River, Wellington said the complex is fraught with rotting floors and deep, open shafts that once held the facility’s huge turbines.

The complex is a historic landmark under the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. The first buildings were constructed in 1875 to pump and filter the city’s drinking water from the river. It was later expanded when the city began generating electricity from the site.

Wellington speculated that many of the nighttime entries into the buildings are made by vagrants looking for valuables.

“If that’s the case, I can assure everyone there’s nothing of value in there,” he said of the complex, which has stood empty since 1972.

Bangor police say they have responded to the property several times throughout the years and routinely drive by to check for intruders.

However, tall grass outside the facility has hindered those efforts, said Wellington, adding that city staff were going to cut the overgrowth to expose some possible entrances.

Wellington said the new barriers would be bolted onto wooden frames inside the structure. The practice would replace the current routine of screwing plywood into what are often rotting wooden frames around the doors and windows, he said.

The ultimate fate of the old buildings remains in question, with the nearby Eastern Maine Healthcare holding an option to purchase the complex. The option expires at the end of the year.

Plans to redevelop the property have stalled, however, as costs continue to rise into the millions of dollars.