Town of Northport, Maine

Incorporated in 1796

New Town Office / Community Center / Fire Station Project

A new Town Office and Community Center is coming! Our Town Office building is at the end of its useful life. It was originally built as a school, and has served well as Town Office for years. More than 30 years ago, the first floor was raised up to become the second floor, where our annual Town Meeting was held until safety and adequate space became limiting.  

The current Town Office has structural deficiencies, is inefficient to heat, and offers limited access for those with disabilities. Any fixes that we do will trigger the need for even more costly repairs and updates, including shoring up, leveling, and installation of an elevator to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Northport’s population has increased 50% since 1980, and we are rapidly outgrowing our small building.

In 2018, the Select Board began working on plans for a new Town Office, on one floor, on the same site as the current office. The Board was preparing to introduce those plans to the Town in March of 2020, when covid struck and the plans were put on hold.

This year Select Board has restarted the planning process and is ready to ask the Town at the Annual Town Meeting on June 17th for its support to proceed with the big project.

The new building will house the Town Office and include a new Community Center, where residents can gather for our annual Town meeting, Select Board and Planning Board meetings, volunteer committee meetings, voting, community celebrations and other functions that are vital to a resilient community. Our current meeting room (which has a bending and cracked post in the middle of it) can hold about 15 people, so for larger meetings we currently have had to schedule space in the truck bays at the firehouse, at the school, or even at the Saturday Cove Church. At some meetings, residents end up crowded in the lobby trying to follow the meeting.

The new Community Center will seat 88 people, sufficient for all regular meetings and the annual Town meeting. It will include a full kitchen, a quiet room for reading and digital access, and can serve as an emergency shelter in the event of severe weather (hot or cold) or extended power outages. The new building will connect to the existing Fire Station and feature several upgrades, including a bunk room, a room for industrial washer and dryer for firefighting gear, and showers for firefighters to clean up after responding to calls.

The new Town Office and Community Center is designed to:

  • Support meetings, informational sessions, and trainings for a variety of local and regional groups. Several local fire departments, for example, will be able to hold joint training sessions, and state agencies (Bureau of Motor Vehicles or Department of Transportation, for example) could also hold regional training sessions.
  • Function as a public event space for community-wide events and private rentals. It will have a full kitchen.
  • Function as an emergency shelter during extreme weather events (hot, cold, extended power outages).
  • Improve public digital access with a publicly accessible “book nook” and digital literacy space, available as a quiet reading room with high-speed internet access for residents who may lack it at home.
  • Enhance public safety by adding two showers to the Fire Station and a room for an industrial washer and dryer for firefighter gear, as well as a new office for the EMS chief, who currently shares office space with the fire chief.
  • Reduce the Town’s carbon footprint with rooftop solar panels sufficient to meet all of the building’s electricity needs. The new building will incorporate other energy efficient features to reduce heating and cooling costs, minimize environmental impact, and serve as a public model for responsible energy use.

This project will benefit Northport and our wider community. Everyone who visits the Town Office – whether to pay taxes, to vote, to register a dog or vehicle, to buy trash stickers, or attend a meeting – will have a better experience in the new facility than they have now. The new Town Office and Community Center will eliminate physical barriers to entry, provide more efficient operation for Town business, improve access to Town services and improve the Town’s ability to respond to community needs. It will also serve our wider community as available meeting space for public and private gatherings.

The Town is applying for two federal funding sources — Congressionally Directed Spending, and the Northern Border Regional Commission — to provide the bulk of the funding. We hope to run a capital campaign for cover some of the cost, and we expect to borrow to cover the remaining costs of the project.

We will be holding a public information session on Monday, June 3, at 6pm at the Drinkwater School with updated floor plans, renderings, and the architect to answer any questions. Stay tuned!