Say goodbye to the bindery

Residents will soon see the rubble of the former book bindery taken away.
Portland Board of Public Works approved arrangements for its removal at its Friday meeting, along with approving two supplemental agreements to project contracts.
Landon Excavating and T.J.’s Concrete Construction will jointly clear away the book bindery debris and remove the concrete underneath. After receiving bids from both companies, the city proposed they work together to get the job done faster.
“If one contractor does it, it’d probably take close to two weeks to do,” said Mayor Randy Geesaman. “We talked to both of them, they’ve agreed to do the project together for the lower estimate.”
The city, which has taken possession of the property from former owner Jim Brewster, will pay the companies a total of $66,800, the amount of the lower bid submitted by Landon Excavating. The county landfill will accept the rubble for free, which saves the city about $200,000, Geesaman said. The city will have to pay hauling fees.
The former book bindery, located on Wayne Street just north of the railroad tracks and across from Hudson Family Park, was demolished in spring of 2013. But rubble from the demolition has remained at the site for more than two years.
The debris has been a frequent source of complaints by residents and a regular topic of conversation at city council meetings.

The board approved a supplemental agreement with Butler, Fairman and Seufert. Three parcels need to be added to the firm’s design for a pedestrian path project on the west side of Creagor Avenue. This raises the city’s contract with the firm from $99,765 to $119,805.
A supplemental agreement with Beam, Longest and Neff was approved. This contract, for work in planning for the Safe Routes to Schools program, has been reduced from $84,000 to $73,200. Once the environmental study began, the firm realized some costs would be lower than expected.
The board also granted right of way access to Community Fiber Solutions to install fiber optics cables along the east side of Williams Street.