The new temporary highway garage for Peru’s highway department is on the property of the Dixfield Discount Fuel facility on Route 108 in Peru. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
PERU — The town now has a new temporary facility in place this winter for their road crew and trucks.
The temporary garage, which was close to completed Nov. 21, is on the property of the Dixfield Discount Fuel facility on Route 108, whose owner, Clinton Bradbury, has offered leased space for the structure at no cost to the town.
Select Board member Katie Lawrence said Oct. 23 that the town entered into a seven-month lease of a L2 structure from Indiana. The 65-by-65-foot structure has a 17-foot door and a partial floor for a total cost of nearly $149,000, to come out of the insurance money from the fire that destroyed the garage and equipment Jan. 27.
‘The town is in the process of constructing a new highway garage. The board agreed that if work on the new garage is not started by mid-December, work on the structure will not begin until the spring.
On April 18, voters at a special town meeting approved money to build a highway equipment garage on the Peru Center Road, on the location of the previous garage.
At that time, the building committee proposed a one-story, wood-frame garage with a loft for offices in one corner. The garage would have a concrete floor with radiant heat and a metal roof on the same site.
It will replace the 33-year-old building that was 2,400 square feet and deemed too small for the department.
Meanwhile Road Commissioner Brad Hutchings said they are doing maintenance work to get the new fleet ready for winter.
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