Wiscasset’s current wastewater treatment plant, at 69 Water St. During a meeting on Tuesday, July 30, the Wiscasset Select Board voted unanimously to consider moving the wastewater treatment plant to the town’s public works site on Hodge Street. (Piper Pavelich photo)
During a meeting the evening of Tuesday, July 30, the Wiscasset Select Board voted unanimously to explore relocating the town’s wastewater treatment plant to the current public works site.
The town has been considering relocating the wastewater treatment plant since 2023, working alongside William Olver, president and senior managing partner of Olver Associates Inc., to analyze the costs associated with different sites around town.
The select board recently considered two sites the town already owns – the public works site and a parcel of land on Federal Street – and two the town would have had to consider purchasing – a parcel of land on Churchill Street and The Morris Farm on Gardiner Road.
Select board members chose the current public works site because the town would be “getting more bang for its buck,” as Town Manager Dennis Simmons said during the July 30 meeting.
At a cost of $51,150,000, the town would relocate its wastewater treatment plant to the public works site on Hodge Street and build a new public works site and salt shed on a parcel of land near the transfer station on Fowle Hill Road.
Of that total, $4 million would be devoted to building a new public works building and salt shed.
“If you’re going to spend $50 million to get a new wastewater treatment plant, or you can spend $50 million to get a new wastewater treatment plant and a public works building, it’s kind of a no-brainer,” said select board member Pam Dunning.
Other development options considered by the town included a Federal Street site, with an estimate of $46 million; a Churchill Street site, with an estimate of $51,925,000; and The Morris Farm’s, which was slated to be over $55 million.
The development of a new wastewater treatment plant is estimated to cost $39 million, according to documentation provided to the town by Olver.
Simmons and Olver said the town is currently pursuing nearly $6 million in grant funding for the project and will continue to pursue additional funding.
The relocation of the town’s wastewater treatment plant and the development of a new public works building and salt shed will be put before voters on the Tuesday, Nov. 5 ballot, said Simmons.
The next meeting of the Wiscasset Select Board is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6 at the town office.
