Raceway work gains approval from planners Upgrades at Bangor track to include two new stables

BANGOR – Members of the city’s planning board unanimously approved plans Tuesday night for two new stables, a new paddock and other improvements at Bangor Raceway, where leaky roofs have posed problems for area horsemen.

The project already has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection, planning officer David Gould said during Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall.

According to project documents submitted to the city, track operator Hollywood Slots at Bangor plans to complete the improvements in three phases over a two-year period, beginning this month.

By the time it is finished, the raceway overhaul will result in the replacement of six aging barns, four paddocks and related buildings.

Two stables, one of which will be built next year and the other in 2010, will house nearly 200 horses each. The new paddock will include space for a veterinarian and a track official, Ray Bolduc of WBRC, a Bangor architectural and engineering firm, said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Other elements of the project will include renovations to existing access drives and outdoor handling areas, upgrades to utilities and vegetation buffers.

The proposed improvements and some of the financial details will be reviewed by members of the City Council’s business and economic development committee today during a 5 p.m. meeting at City Hall.

Though cost figures weren’t included in Gould’s background memorandum for planning board members, documents submitted to the council committee peg the total cost of the improvements at a little more than $5.6 million.

As owner of the facility, the city will share in the cost, though to what extent remains unclear.

The new stables will replace horse barns that have long been showing signs of age, including leaky roofs that had many horsemen grumbling in late April and early May.

The leaks allowed rain to drip onto many of the 200 horses housed at Bangor Raceway and ruined hay and grain stored there.

At that time, Hollywood Slots General Manager Jon Johnson noted that the barns were built in 1975 and had a projected life span of 25 years.

Johnson said Hollywood Slots, which leases the track, barns and grandstand from the city, hired a company to repair the roofs on the horse barns last year but found that the barns weren’t structurally sound enough to support new roofs.

Attempts to patch the barns’ corrugated metal roofs also proved unsuccessful.

Tarps were placed over holes in the barns’ roofs earlier this year as a temporary fix.

Bass Park Director Michael Dyer said earlier this spring that while he empathized with the horsemen, he also thought Hollywood Slots was doing what it could to keep the barns dry. When Hollywood Slots leased the city-owned racing facilities, it assumed most of the maintenance responsibilities.

Dyer said the metal roofs over the horse barns have been rusting for years now and have been a challenge to maintain.

During the planning board meeting, Mary Ann Combs, who owns a home on Bond Street, a short side street running along the back side of the track, asked whether the project could include fencing to prevent the headlights of vehicles entering the raceway from shining into her home.

She also asked whether trash containers in which horse manure is discarded could be emptied more frequently to cut down on the odor during the racing season.

Bolduc said the two requests would be taken into consideration.