NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen on Monday authorized two bid packages, one to reposition a Little League ball field and the other for supplying materials for summer road projects and winter sanding.
The ball field is at the New Gloucester Recreation Park on Rowe’s Station Road. Voters approved $40,000 several years ago, and specifications are complete to begin the project after July 1 and finish by Oct. 30.
All potential bidders must visit the site.
Roughly a half-acre will be cleared and the topsoil stripped. Approximately .3 acres will be graded and a six-inch gravel blanket installed with storm drainage. Finally, topsoil will be spread and the grass seeded and fences and posts reinstalled. A gravel parking lot will be upgraded at the same time.
For the road bids, Kevin Doyle, who heads the town’s highway department, said properly screened material is required to safeguard town equipment. This winter, three chains broke from rocks in the sand mixture and cost $900 each to replace.
Chairman Cliff Andrews of the New Gloucester Fairgrounds Committee said a list of projects for the 32-acre town property on the Bald Hill Road has been posted. The list will be prioritized and grouped into phases for completion in the future.
This year the committee plans to work with Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation and the Sabbathday Lake Youth Corps to trim overgrowth along the river and create a picnic area. Gardens of perennial plants will be installed and an amphitheater area will be built. The youth workers will help create walking trails along the perimeter of the property.
A long-range plan for the property will be developed. Among the projects on the list are renovating a historic barn that served as Exhibition Hall for the New Gloucester-Danville Fairgrounds from the late 1800s until the 1940s. A ball field and all-purpose field are in the plan, and a community center.
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