BREWER – After simmering on a back burner for three decades, plans to move the city’s public works operation off the waterfront and into a more modern facility are coming to fruition.

The city acquired a site of almost 4 acres on Green Point Road for that purpose more than a year ago. During a special meeting Friday morning, city councilors awarded a construction contract to C & N Custom Builders Inc. of Hudson, which submitted the low bid of $902,444. The councilors also set aside $45,000 for contingencies.

The council’s unanimous decision was greeted by applause on the part of the city’s public works staff in attendance. The 23-member crew has been working out of an aging facility squeezed onto a 1-acre lot at the end of Hardy Street for at least 60 years.

“They’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Public Works Director Frank Higgins, adding that he had found documents relating to the issue dating back to the early 1970s.

The project will involve renovating roughly 3,200 square feet of existing space and building 7,500 square feet of new work space.

According to Higgins, the Green Point property currently houses a 42-by-80-foot building that will be converted into offices and space for light equipment maintenance. He said a 75-by-80-foot heavy equipment maintenance and storage facility also will be built at the site, as well as a 75-by-23-foot connector building. The small structure will be used for storage and as a sign shop.

“It’s not oversized, but we can be comfortable in it,” Higgins said.

Higgins, who also serves as city engineer, said that the construction is part of a $1.3 million public works project that also will involve bringing fill and gravel to the site, paving and the installation of a well, an underground fuel storage system and pumps. Other aspects of the project include purchasing furniture and new radios and bringing fiber-optic and telephone data communication lines to the site.

Higgins said work at the site is expected to start within the next few weeks. Though the project deadline is Dec. 31, Higgins said the work could be completed before that. The existing public works building won’t be torn down until later.

Moving the public works operation off the waterfront has been a longtime goal. The idea is to eliminate one of the eyesores that blight the city’s riverfront and to free the city-owned site for a more appropriate use. According to the city’s master redevelopment plan for Penobscot Landing, as the Brewer waterfront is now known, the current public works site is being eyed as the future site of a proposed 200- to 300-seat outdoor amphitheater, dubbed the Penobscot Landing Arts Yard, or “PLAY” for short.

During a series of public sessions about the waterfront revival effort, residents and businesspeople often cited the condition and location of the public works garage as problems that must be addressed. Further, the existing facility poses environmental risks to the river with its fuel depot, chemical storage area and heavy equipment, all within yards of the shoreline.