Residents OK wharf project in Greenville

GREENVILLE – Residents attending a special town meeting Wednesday night showed their support for renovating the rotted Greenville Junction Wharf.

Residents authorized selectmen in a 22-8 vote to borrow up to $250,000 and gave them the authority to expend a total of up to $884,000 for the project. That total includes a congressional earmark of $121,000, a pledge of $63,000 from the Bureau of Parks and Recreation for boat launch improvements at the wharf, a possible Project Canopy Grant and a $500,000 Municipal Trust Investment Fund, if awarded to the town.

There is $1.5 million available in the trust investment fund, and the maximum award service center towns can receive is $500,000, which must be matched locally, according to Town Manager John Simko. If the town is awarded the grant, the earmark, loan, boat launch funds and the canopy grant will serve as the local match. Ken Woodbury of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council is assisting the town with the application.

Some residents at the Wednesday town meeting voiced concern about borrowing funds because there was no assurance the town would receive a trust investment fund. Others worried that if the town’s application for the investment fund money were awarded, it would lock the town into the most expensive replacement method.

Resident Dan McLaughlin suggested the town could do a lot of the repair with the funds it now has available. “I think you’re rushing this project way too fast,” he said.

Simko replied that the town could end up “paying a bigger piece of the pie,” if it did not act now before grant funds were exhausted. Grant funds available to communities are shrinking, he said.

Others agreed. “It’s a very important piece of infrastructure for the county as a whole,” resident Steve Mason said Wednesday. “It just makes good economic sense” to repair the facility now, he added.

“The Junction Wharf is the number one asset we have, followed by the airport,” resident Dan Macfadyen said. “It’s just a shame not to secure the use of that for the future.”

The town’s engineer, Al Hodsdon of Waterville, told residents Wednesday that the project is to replace the decaying wood and at the same time completely upgrade the on-site boat launch and add another launch.

“Everyone wants it to be done for, I think, the long term,” Hodsdon said. He noted that the $884,000 would not cover the most expensive option.

Town officials have looked at several options including riprap at a cost of $33 per square foot for a life span of 75 to 100 years, steel sheet pilings at a cost of $45 per square foot for a life span of 50-plus years, wood or a combination. The least expensive is to remove the cribbing and stabilize it with riprap, he said. The most expensive in the long run would be the use of hemlock, which is what is in place now.

Later that night at a selectmen’s meeting, Hodsdon said if hemlock were installed for cribbing, the town would need to replace it two more times over a 50-year period.

To move the project forward, selectmen signed the Department of Conservation agreement for the boat launch and instructed Hodsdon to develop a multimaterial plan for longevity and cost effectiveness. The board agreed that the design would be drafted by mid-June, at which time a public hearing would be scheduled. The plan would be made final in July and the work submitted for bids.

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