SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — After months of debating how to use the former Mahoney Middle School building, city leaders have landed on a plan to consolidate into a municipal campus there.
In a city council meeting this month, a preliminary plan passed that would consolidate two city halls under one roof at the Mahoney building. The current gymnasium and theatre inside would continue to be available for community use.
The project is estimated to cost around $74 million, but South Portland City Manager Scott Morelli said many municipal leaders have outgrown their buildings across the city and that the plan is the most cost-effective in the long-term.
"Bringing it all to Mahoney does have an element of savings to it. There are other ways you could do it cheaper, but it's not a long-term solution," Morelli said. "You're just effectively putting a Band-Aid on problems you're going to have to deal with 10 or 15 years later."
A police station is also slated to be built on a field adjacent to the school. The department currently shares a building with the fire department.
South Portland police Chief Dan Ahern says a new building will be able to accommodate several overdue needs such as private rooms for sensitive conversations with residents seeking help and enough locker room space for officers.
"You can see the delineation in the floor," Ahern explained. "We get a lot of leaks. We get a lot of water."
He said the building floods frequently, too.
The South Portland Public Library also would be relocated to the Mahoney building if the plan goes through. Library Director Kevin Davis says the library has outgrown the space for a while now.
"When the building was built in 1965, public libraries didn't have DVD collections. They didn't have computer clusters," Davis said. "We're kind of bursting at the seams."
Residents shared their opinions on the South Portland Facebook Page and at city council meetings, raising concerns over the project and its potential impact on local property values.
Earlier this year, residents also pushed to use the building for affordable housing and temporary housing, but the proposals were shot down.
Morelli said the city's focus on lowering costs and for affordable housing isn't going away and hopes to use several financial opportunities to find a middle ground with residents.
"[City hall, the library, the Hamelin Building] can be sold. We can use the revenue from those sales to help buy down the cost, and those properties will go on the tax rolls, which they're not right now, so every year they're generating property taxes," Morelli explained.