Pepperell Post, February 2012: Proposed Saco Public Service Center



A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	February, 2012	Return to newsletter index

Proposed Saco Public Service Center

The City Public Works and Regional School Unit (RSU) 23 Transportation facility on North Street has long been in need of a larger, more efficient facility and site. The current location provides city infrastructure operations, recycling, RSU 23 bus storage, city and RSU fleet services and fueling. While the building has met our needs for the last 20 years, the age and condition of the existing building and site restraints are inadequate and need to be addressed.

OA's training facility on Lund Road, Saco
Recently, the owners of Maine Hockey Group's(MHG) facility on Lund Road have shared their vision for economic development that would include their current facility as well as adjacent private and City owned lands including the Public Works facility and the old Saco Steel site on Lund Road. Their master plan includes additional athletic and rehabilitation facilities, restaurants, and a hotel that could be an economic engine at the gateway to the City.

To accommodate MHG's expansion and resolve the Public Works deficiencies, staff is proposing to sell the current site on North Street and move to city owned land adjacent to the landfill at the Foss Road. This site presents the city with an opportunity to address a number of existing problems:

The current public work facility has reached its life expectancy and needs extensive renovation and expansion. The useable site is marginal for the near term and too small for the future. The RSU employee facilities are housed in a trailer and lack adequate space for parking for employees and buses.
The transfer station on Foss road is an unsafe, temporary site that we have been getting by with for 10 years.
The recreation fields are dispersed and hampered by conflicting vehicular and pedestrian conflict from the transfer station operation and lack of adequate parking and customer amenities like restrooms and concession area.

The plan would consolidate the existing athletic fields on Foss Road by constructing two new fields across the street at the existing Transfer Station. These fields would replace the fields displaced by the new Public Works. New customer enhancements include parking lots, restrooms, equipment storage and concession areas. The site also offers an opportunity to develop an adjoining 17 acres for the future.

The transfer station would move to the proposed Public Works facility providing a safer, more efficient operation. We will no longer have customers using with transfer station causing safety concerns with children playing in the area. Public Works and the RSU Transportation would be consolidated on the 41 acres of useable land adjacent to the landfill site. This site will provide the City with an effective and efficient consolidation of all public works operations, allow for improvements needed today, and provide room for growth for the next 100 years.

This is an exceptional opportunity to address the last of the City's facilities needs with the chance to develop the North Street properties into a national sports complex that can be the catalyst for economic growth throughout the City.