NORWAY – The owners of the historic Gingerbread House gave the go-ahead Monday to a local task force to continue its plans to move the building if a recently-discovered water main can be rerouted.

“I think we just need to continue to find a way,” said Ed Snook, chief financial officer for C’s Inc., owner of the 155-year-old house that sits on the west end of the downtown National Historic District.

“I’m not saying it’s an insurmountable problem,” Snook told members of the Gingerbread House Task Force at a meeting Monday morning.

Last year, C’s Inc., a holding company for the Sun Media Group which publishes the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat, agreed to hold off on plans to demolish the 1855 home if the historical society or town wanted to move it. Town officials have stressed that the town can not afford to participate financially in the effort.

A collaborative public/private task force was formed, but plans to move ahead with the project were recently hampered when an 80- to 100-year-old water main that runs from Water Street under the Pennesseewassee Stream to Main Street was found on the proposed new site for the house near Butters Park.

“We cannot have a structure over the water main,” said John Longley, one of three Norway Water District trustees told the task force. The water main provides both fire protection and water pressure for the area and cannot be cut off or capped, he said.

While the house could be moved east of the proposed site to avoid the water main, Snook has made it clear the company would rather have the house moved even farther west than presently under discussion.

Because of various problems, the proposed site has encroached more on the C’s Inc. property.

“It needs to be moved the other way,” Snook said. “We need to go a littler west.”

Ferg Lea, planning division director for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, suggested a tunnel could be built under the new foundation to provide access to the water main.

The task force estimates it will cost $184,382 to move and stabilize the building plus another possible $42,000 to relocate the water main. The effort will not use any taxpayer dollars.

Task force members represent various groups including the historical society, Norway Downtown, Western Maine Arts group, and other local businesses and organizations.

The work by AVCOG and Coastal Enterprises is being paid for by Norway Downtown, which is concerned about maintaining a viable western entrance to the downtown district.

The task force agreed that the water main issue will have to be resolved in order to move forward with its plans.