PRESQUE ISLE – A $1.9 million public works garage renovation project is moving forward after the Presque Isle City Council gave its authorization for city officials to proceed with the project.

With a $700,000 federal earmark, city funding, and an $850,000 bond from the state, city officials plan to put out to bid as soon as March the project to renovate 27,200 square feet of an existing missile hangar at Skyway Industrial Park to create a new public works garage.

The public works department has been working since about 1999 to find a way to get all of its equipment under cover. Right now, many of the department’s plows and trucks spend the winter outside, exposed to the elements, because the garage is not large enough to hold all the equipment.

About a year ago, after considering several options including building new or expanding its garage, the public works department and the city’s industrial council created a plan that would allow the department to get all of the machinery inside.

The new garage will take up most of a 33,000-square-foot missile hangar, leaving about 6,000 feet that could be leased out for another purpose. Larry Clark, executive director of the industrial council, said the $1.9 million price tag is fairly reasonable when several factors are taken into account.

Clark said the project would cost about 60 to 65 percent more if the city had opted to construct a new garage for the public works department. He also said the renovation project cost includes everything from architecture and engineering to a 10 percent contingency and $50,000 to equip the mechanic shop and offices.

Gerry James, public works director, gave more details about the project, explaining it also would include a freestanding, 40-by-100-foot salt shed, which will be large enough to hold a year’s worth of salt. The building also will be secured by a gate. James said the department will reuse as much as possible from the old garage when it moves to the new garage.

City Manager Tom Stevens tackled the funding aspect of the project, pointing out that with the federal earmark, the city has about $998,000 in funding for the garage. Taking into account the council directive that the city not raise the mill rate to pay for the project, the city plans to get the rest of the money from the Maine Bond Bank.

Stevens said the city can borrow $200,000 from the Presque Isle development fund to offset the loan and seek a $650,000 bond. The loan payments of about $97,800 over the course of 10 to 15 years will be paid back through a public works department account.

While the city has approval to move forward, it is waiting on word that the federal earmark funding has been transferred to the Department of Transportation, which will distribute the funds. Once that is done, officials said, they can put the project out to bid and know better when construction will begin.