BAR HARBOR, Maine — Construction of a new port security building overlooking the local harbor is expected to be complete well before cruise ship season begins next spring.
The new, two-story building is expected to give the harbormaster a little more breathing room and a better view of the harbor, where hundreds of thousands of cruise ship passengers and other boaters come and go each summer.
According to Charlie Phippen, the town’s harbormaster, the project is expected to be largely completed by the end of the calendar year.
“The target date is around January 1,” Phippen said Monday. “They’re going right along.”
The building is being paid for in part by federal funds from Department of Homeland Security. The overall cost of the buildings is expected be approximately $500,000, with $375,000 being covered by DHS and the rest being paid with cruise ship fees collected by the town.
Construction firm E.L. Shea of Ellsworth is the general contractor on the project.
The existing harbormaster’s office is big enough for a desk, three or four people standing, and several small piles of related equipment.
The new building will have a proper reception area, its own restroom and a workroom for repairing equipment, none of which exists in the current office. It also will have a meeting room and extra office space that could be used as needed by the local police department or other law enforcement entities such as the Coast Guard or federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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All it’s missing is a hotel attached to it
When I read “Port Security Building” I was under the impression this would be for use by the Coast Guard or Border Patrol, not the harbormaster. I would be willing to bet that one of the stipulations with the money given by Homeland Security was that it had to be named Port Security Building, you know to give the illusion that this is a building that is tough on crime and making a difference. While I think it is a great they are getting a new facility for their harbormaster or as it is called elsewhere along the coast of Maine, the harbormaster’s office, it is almost laughable at calling it the “Port Security Building”. Just another way our government tries to give us the illusion that all of the money they spend is making a difference.