Thu, 09/07/2017 - 07:14 pm

Sarah Thompson

The building permit for the 90,000 square-foot proposed Midcoast School of Technology project is 28 cents per square foot, not $5.50 as previously reported. Region 8 asked the City to waive the fee, not pay it. The money generated through construction fees is incorporated into the budget of the Code Enforcement Office, and would support the cost of the code enforcement officer’s time during his regular visits to the project site once construction begins. The school’s waiver request will be revisited next week at the full meeting.

ROCKLAND – Why wasn’t a building permit fee known about and included in the construction bid, and why is only Rockland asked to pay it? These are the questions the Rockland City Council posed to representatives of Midcoast School of Technology during the Wednesday, Sept. 6, Rockland council’s agenda-setting meeting.

MCST is asking Rockland to waive a $25,000 building permit attached to its $20.8 million new school project. During that meeting, Code Enforcement Officer John Root said the fee was already included in the contractor’s bid.

On Aug. 10, the MCST had board approved a $20.8 million construction contract with the Sheridan Corporation, according to school board meeting minutes. The new school is to be constructed on Main Street, on the parcel where the existing MCST school is located. That school represents Region 8, whose sending schools are Camden Hills Regional, Islesboro Central School, Lincoln Academy, Medomak Valley, North Haven, Oceanside and Vinalhaven.

MCST has a website dedicated to the project: www.mcst2019.org

At the Sept. 6 City Council meeting, members questioned why the city was being asked to cover the building permit fee.

“For me, it’s confounding that we would go through years of planning an organization to get to a bond, to issue an approved $25 million bond, and somewhere in that planning process somebody didn’t account for the building permit fees,” Councilor Adam Ackor said. “I think that that’s simply an error on the part of the design and architecture. And I think that now that they’ve realized their error, they are trying to come back and slip this in as a goodwill gesture on the part of the town. I don’t appreciate it. I don’t think it’s right.”

The three representatives of Region 8 included North Haven’s Jerry White, chairman of the Region 8 Cooperative Board; Beth Fisher, director of MCST; and board member and RSU 13 representative Joanne Richards.

Traditionally, White said, in other school-building projects handled by the contractor, the town paid that fee. Mayor Will Clayton said that this project involves many municipalities.

“How come one entity was being asked to bear the entire permit when the entire conglomeration hadn’t been asked,” said Clayton. “As far as we know, Rockland was the only one that was asked to waive $25,000 when we know everybody has a share in that permit fee.”

The Region 8 Midcoast School of Technology educates students from Appleton, Camden, Cushing, Friendship, Hope, Islesboro, Lincolnville, Matinicus Plantation, Monhegan Island Plantation, North Haven, Owls Head Rockland, Rockport, St. George, South Thomaston, Thomaston, Union, Waldoboro, Warren, Washington and Vinalhaven.

According to Root, fees for new structures are calculated by the square foot. The proposed building is 90,000 square feet in size. The fee would be calculated by multiplying 90,000 by 28 cents.

That’s just for the building permit fee. Separate electrical and plumbing fees are to be charged by the city, as well.

According to Fisher, the bids were under budget, but the school had to leave out possible features in order to meet the bond amount.

“This is my understanding, and I can’t speak for anyone else,” she said. “This would allow us to put that $25,000, or whatever the exact number is, back into the project to take care of some of the issues like landscaping and so on, that would enhance the project.”

Though MCST/Region 8 has owned the property since 1976, Rockland amended an ordinance that required the zoning to be maritime-related. Because the school provides maritime education, the Midcoast School of Technology has been permitted to build in an area of the property otherwise nonconforming to the code, according to Root.

“I support the position of the school entirely,” Ackor said. “I’m excited about it. I’m in the building trade. I know that there’s a huge amount of demand for skilled trades people of all types. I think it’s a vital part of how our community moves forward. I’m just discouraged that this is the foot that we get started on.”

No vote occured during the meeting.

For the time being, at the request of council, the school will provide a letter from the contractor stating specifically to whom that $25,000 is being allocated. Does it go into the contractor’s contingency plan, as questioned by council, or into the school’s contingency plan, as Fisher ascertains.