Council considers options for public works facilities

The public works facilities in Leavenworth need to be expanded due to the upcoming improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment facility. This new footprint would be located at the current public works maintenance facility on 14th Street.
Last October, Public Works Director Herb Amick, Street/Utility Supervisor Tom Radach, Parks Supervisor John Schons, City Administrator Joel Walinski met with RHR Engineer Eric Howe and TCF Architect Randy Cook to develop a master plan for the public works area.
“We have been looking at the waste treatment plant expansion and couple of different things in terms of adding space for the tertiary treatment of phosphorus and does that expand the footprint of the waste treatment plant?” Walinski said at the Dec. 12 study session. “If you look at not just this 20 year mark, but also the next 20 year mark so we get to 2040 with the waste treatment plant. One of the first things you want to do, you walk through the current public works site.”
What to do with the public works facility in the master plan?
“Not necessarily that you do everything all at once, but over the course time we felt we should address the buildings and infrastructure that support public works,” Walinski said. “Look at the equipment, supplies and shop we have for public works. Public Works does streets, parks and utilities and stuff to do that. We looked at all those things and came up with a plan, over time, you have facilities to support that.”
Engineer Eric Howe presented to the council. He proposed looking at the potential build out and how the city might get there.
“During the workshop, we were looking at all the different operations, all the things that need to be stored, the rolling stock of people, their offices,” Howe said. “What are you going to do with everything and what are the best adjacencies, where should people be next and what should their work places be next to? Look at this holistic look and try to say, from there, create the program spaces and turn them into buildings.”
That is the big picture concept, Howe said, program to need, then look at the space and figure out what kind of building is needed to accommodate that program.
Essentially, there are three different areas of operations for public works, separated by a public road.
“One of things we’re looking at, in the future, it would be nice to have everything in one common space where you could fence it off and say this is public works,” Howe said. “You don’t have the public driving through public works, we have a public works facility. By doing that, you get more economies by people being able to work across the yard. You have crew offices which can see different parts of the yard, see what’s going on and have interactions with their staff and equipment.”
The driving forces are, what to do with 14th Street? Do you keep it there or find another place for it? Howe said it is a little tight relocation but it keeps it in the city right-of-way.
Right now, he said they are trying to minimize the impacts of how this is built out.
“This is a quite little reroute of Commercial to 14th. That sets the stage, so you can create this bigger space of use,” Howe said. “From there, we looked at the topography. How can we minimize how much grading we need to do? How can we minimize how many utilities we’re going to have to relocate? There is a sloped up area to the main plateau. We might as well maintain that.”
Many of the spaces in the buildings are shared use, Walinski said.
“It was probably grandfathered in, but if you were going to build something new, your welding permit, it has be separated out,” Walinski said.
Councilman Elmer Larsen said when he looked at moving the road, he thought, why not just move the car wash? He wanted to looking into acquiring that for the long term. That would keep all the public works on one side of the road.
“I think it’s good we have resources there. We’re not coming in through traffic to get there. The cost of relocating that road doesn’t make sense to me when you have a facility that is targeted for maintenance,” Larsen said. “I would look at that as a option. I don’t know if Gary (Spence) would sell it, but maybe it might be an option if he wants to retire or something. Maybe get an agreement so you know which way to go.”
Councilwoman Mia Bretz wondered if public works needed to be that big and in that location downtown.
“If you want to go north, certainly we would have to re-lay the sight out. One of the things we were taking advantage of, this now becomes the yard. You’re taking advantage of this existing building, which you could expand someday. This layout here is set to be that future in and out. What it means this would need to be reoriented. What we’re looking at is what can you do that works today. How can you phase this in?” Howe said.
“I heard, do you split various pieces of this and store some downtown? During that design, the concept and need arose from the desire to have everything in one common location. That was a desire by the public works staff,” said Howe.
A lot of the city departments, whether streets, parks or utilities, all interact with each other, Walinski said. There are some efficiencies because everybody is in close proximity, not only do they share personnel but also equipment, Walinski noted.
“Another thing looking into the future, how do you attract and retain personnel? How do you these new people looking for jobs and get them to stay here? Facilities actually matter. Having those amenities matters to people when you are trying to hire them,” Howe said. “They are not grandiose ideas, just about little things to build community with your staff. You can’t put your figure on a value, but it is there.”
Walinski suggested looking at the public works facilities in Wenatchee or Cashmere.
“Look at some of these other facilities and what are the pieces they’ve incorporated in?
It’s not the Taj Mahal, but there are some basic things you need address,” Walinski said.
Bretz said the design is cool, but she wondered whether it should exist at that location, suggestiing it could be dedicated to commercial. Larsen gave her a historical perspective on the area.
“Early on, the city did not have any property north of the sewer plant. It was a conscience decision when we bought that. It was a PUD building. We had an opportunity to purchase. We’ve done it over two or three years to consolidate. There was real incentive to keep it in town,” Larsen said.
Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar said the location of the public works has been discussed by the city council . “No really evident location exists for that purpose. If we had an idea of a couple three acres we could buy close in to put parks and public works and just leave the sewer plant where it is, then that property does become a very viable development parcel,” Farivar said.
Walinski said there is limited access on Highway 2 and since it is close to the wastewater plant, there is a decrease in property value. Larsen said he couldn’t imagine putting a hotel there or something.
“One of my initial ideas was to find something close in that would enable us to have easy access. I would like to see us in the location off Chumstick because it is an industrial field. The county shop is there. That would be perfect,” Farivar said.
Larsen said the city has invested a lot of time and energy to acquire property next to the sewer plant  which is not a good location for commercial use.
“Every time we talk about this, it feels like an exercise for the council to get more familiar with the property and more knowledgeable about the potential. Is there where we want to be? If this is where we want to be, this is how it could look? We’re not making a decision on this today, but this work has been done to show us how to truly maximize the city’s property in this location,” Farivar said.
The sewer plant has to be expanded, so you have to have somewhere to go, Amick pointed out.
“One of the recommendations was to change 14th so you weren’t feeding traffic onto Front Street. The question is what would you like us to do? I can have a conversation with Gary. That can happen. That commits us more to this site,” Walinski said. “We had the conversation with Chelan County on their site. At this point in time, they have no interest.”
Farivar said they should also contact the property owners with land across from the county shop building off Chumstick. Walinski said that was a possibility also. Councilwoman Margaret Neighbors said with the sewer plant there, it makes sense to expand there.
“That is what we were hearing from the staff. There was efficiencies being near each other. Even though it is two different operations, it’s all one public works. If you had this, it definitely opens the door,” Howe said. “We don’t have any wash bays on site, because the car wash is next door. If you buy it, then we’ll incorporate it.”
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.