BANGOR, Maine — As it approaches its centennial, Bangor’s Rotary Club is hoping to leave its mark on the city by bringing to fruition an addition to the waterfront that’s been talked about and cast aside for more than 15 years.
Bangor Rotary wants to build an ice rink and splash pad along the Bangor Waterfront overlooking the Penobscot River. The idea is to create a plaza that residents and visitors could use year-round. Rotary leaders laid out the concept for city councilors and officials during a meeting Monday night.
The effort, which the group is calling its “Legacy Project,” is still in early conceptual stages, but it has the group’s membership excited, according to Rotary Vice President and Brewer Mayor Beverly Uhlenhake. She said that when the idea was first presented to Rotarians during a meeting in December 2015, members started standing up, offering amounts up to $1,000 to get things started.
“We don’t see this as just a thing to put our name on, it’s really a community gift,” Uhlenhake said Tuesday.
The splash pad, a play area with features that spray water, could double as a colorful fountain at night with the addition of LED lighting.
The ice rink, which would have a refrigeration system, could be drained in warm months and be used for inline skating or a public stage area.
Similar projects in other communities, such as one in Sherbourne Common in Toronto, have had price tags ranging from $200,000 to $500,000, according to former Rotary district president Steve Johnson, who is serving as chairman for the legacy project committee.
Bangor Rotary believes it can raise enough money from its members, companies, and other area residents and groups to get the project done.
Uhlenhake said it also hopes to raise enough to set aside a fund to help the city cover the costs of operating and maintaining the venue in the future.
“We have to make sure we’re not leaving a legacy that’s a burden to the city,” Uhlenhake said.
The group hopes to complete and dedicate the space around its 100th anniversary. The group’s birthdate is contested, and it is either recognized as the date of its first meeting on June 12, 1917, or its charter date, Oct. 16, 1917, depending on who is asked.
The group would like to build the additions on the waterfront bulkhead in the area where FTL Design Engineering Studio envisioned a covered green space at the end of what is now Railroad Street. However, the city hasn’t been able to develop that site in the past because of the tricky, expensive engineering involved with building on the pylons and fill that make up the bulkhead.
Engineering challenges or conflicting plans for the spot could move the project to a different part of the waterfront.
An ice rink has been on and off the table for the city’s redeveloped waterfront several times. It was included in concept plans in the early 2000s, but it never came to fruition. Nor did retail and office spaces that were proposed along Railroad Street and on the bulkhead. Instead, the city got Waterfront Concerts, but it is still trying to determine what to do with some of the remaining open space along the waterfront as it continues its lengthy transition from railroad hub and industrial site to a recreation and entertainment destination.
Before the project proceeds to planning stages, Bangor Rotary would have to open discussions with FTL, the firm Bangor hired in late 2014 to create a concept plan for the future of Bangor’s waterfront, to decide where it should go and what its options are.
Bangor may need to assign more funding to the FTL partnership in order to allow Rotary to work with them. The city already has spent $65,000 working with FTL under an initial contract to complete concept plans for the waterfront, and any new work with the firm would require a new agreement, according to City Manager Cathy Conlow.
Members of the City Council voiced strong support for the concept and urged Rotary and city officials to work with FTL to develop a more solid proposal.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.