LIVERMORE — Plans to build a sand/salt shed have stalled because the estimated cost has risen $100,000, Administrative Assistant Carrie Castonguay told selectpersons Monday night.
She said she received an email Friday from Scott Braley, engineer from Plymouth Engineering, saying the projected cost is up to $400,000 because of prices for materials.
“When Braley told us $300,000 maximum, we weren’t expecting this,” Selectperson Tim Kachnovich said.
Selectperson Megan Dion said she would like to consider more options.
There was discussion about using a fabric building; however, voters at the June 2015 town meeting indicated a desire for a wooden building.
Board of Selectpersons Chairman Peter Castonguay said he got a quote of $87,000 to install a 120- by 60-foot fabric building, but that does not include concrete or ground work.
Kachnovich said the cost of materials used for arches has gone up significantly but the cost for trusses hasn’t.
Carrie Castonguay was tasked with emailing Braley to ask him if there are potential savings, if the town could get truss dimensions and why there is such a jump in costs.
In November, Braley met with selectpersons and said an arch style building would be cheaper to build even though materials would be more expensive. He estimated the cost for either style at $275,000 to $280,000.
In December, the board voted to have the shed designed using arches. Peter Coughlan, director of the Maine Department of Transportation, had also recommended the arch design.
A construction loan at 1 percent interest is available to the town through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The town would be reimbursed for about 37 percent of costs by the Maine Department of Transportation. To qualify for the reimbursement, the town submitted a preliminary plan for the shed in June and a best guess of when construction would start.
Final construction plans need to be submitted before Oct. 1. The town would have a year to get it built and approved.
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