OTISFIELD — Selectmen in Otisfield and Casco will meet next week to review engineering consulting bids for rehabilitating the Pleasant Lake Dam in Casco.
The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Casco Town Office on Route 121.
Otisfield Selectman Rick Micklon said Monday that the board will recommend to Casco selectmen that the bid be awarded to MBP Consulting in Portland for $9,000.
Two other bids were from Sebago Technics of South Portland for $31,800 and Wright-Pierce of Portland for $8,500, Micklon said.
He said the boards asked MBP to add extra costs for meeting with the towns’ selectmen, increasing its original bid from $8,800 to $9,000.
The dam beside Route 121 was built in 1850 and repaired in 1980 and 1992. It is owned by Casco and Otisfield and controls the level of water in the 4-mile-long lake, which lies in both towns.
The lake has private camps, cottages and homes along it, as well as the Seeds of Peace International Camp on the western shore and Camp Arcadia for Girls on the eastern shore, both in Otisfield.
The dam is losing as much as 1,000 gallons of water per minute in a minimum of three places but is in no immediate danger of breaching, according to local officials.
The state considers the dam a low-impact structure and therefore not at high risk of damaging property or putting lives at risk if it fails. However, officials in both towns agree that a maintenance plan must be in place. The two boards met in September and agreed to split the cost of an engineering consultant.
Since that time, an ad hoc committee, which includes Micklon, Casco Selectwoman Holly Hancock and Pleasant Lake and Parker Pond Association President Peter Barber, has been working on details of the project.
According to the MBP Consulting bid, the work will entail hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, conceptual rehabilitation design, preliminary construction costs and a report to go before town meeting. It is expected to take about two months.
The next step is to get funding for the engineering study, Micklon said. Both boards will take their request to town meeting for approval.
The company was hired last fall to make an initial survey report to selectmen. The $4,000 cost was covered by the Pleasant Lake Association, but both towns agreed to reimburse the association.
The company has been involved in scores of projects throughout New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Locally, it did work for the Welchville Dam in Oxford, Sandy Creek Dam in Bridgton and Cushman Pond Dam in Lovell.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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