Starting this week, work to clear four blighted parcels owned by the city of Gardiner at Summer and Bridge streets is scheduled to start, and city officials say Gardiner residents and neighbors are not expected to be affected by the work.
“The contractors are going to start bringing equipment in (this week),” City Manager Scott Morelli said. He has outlined what residents can expect on a Facebook entry posted Friday.
The move is the next step in a long process that’s expected to remake a high-visibility site in Gardiner along the Cobbosseecontee Stream now occupied by the former T.W. Dick buildings into a medical arts building and planned affordable housing for both seniors and families.
Bids were awarded in mid-October to three companies who will clear the properties of both contaminants and buildings and prepare the site for construction. EnviroVantage Inc., based in New Hampshire with an office in Westbrook, will clear the four parcels of identified contaminants. JE Butler Contractors, of Brewer, will pull down and remove the buildings and sheds that are standing on the site starting later this month. Early next year, McGee Construction, of West Gardiner, will complete the earth work.
“By Christmas, that whole site will look completely different,” Gardiner Public Works Director Tony LaPlante said. “There will be an eyesore missing.”
No lane closures are anticipated, Morelli said, and two-way traffic is expected to be preserved during the course of the work.
“Maybe they’ll have to put cones out to redirect traffic,” Morelli said.
Summer Street, where the properties are located, is a truck route, LaPlante said, and it will be kept open for that purpose.
Although the former T. W. Dick properties are industrial, the properties touch neighborhoods. Morelli said work on the site will be limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and traffic is not expected to be affected.
“It will be typical construction noise,” he said. “We don’t expect anything unusual.”
Ransom Consulting, who has been working as Gardiner’s environmental and engineering consultant, is expected to continue working with the contractors during the process to keep disruptions to a minimum.
Developers Collaborative is the company that Gardiner has chosen to redevelop the site. It is currently seeking tax credits to finance the housing construction. It is also working to secure a lease from MaineGeneral Health to relocate and expand the MaineGeneral medical facilities currently located on Dresden Avenue.
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
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