Mars Hill to vote on new garage

6 years ago

MARS HILL, Maine — Mars Hill voters will decide next month whether to invest more than $600,000 in a new town garage.

On Sept. 11, Mars Hill voters will be asked whether to approve spending $627,240 for a new town garage that would be located next to the town’s recently-built sand shed on Route 1A. A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23, at the Mars Hill-Blaine Recreation Center.

If accepted by the townspeople, construction of the 7,200 square foot garage will start in the fall and be finished by spring of 2019, said town councillor Todd Grass.

Voters in Mars Hill previously voted against building a larger garage at a price tag of $1.2 million.

The town has a proposal to build the garage from contractor Buck Construction and would finance the project with a $600,000 loan from the Maine Municipal Bond Bank at a rate of 3.13 percent for 15 years. The town council has set aside $100,000 over the last two years to pay for the $27,240 above the $600,000, Grass said.

As part of the project, the town also would remove older, wooden parts of an existing garage, Grass said. The steel section of that building would remain for cold storage.