Waite Park Weighs In On Designs for New Public Works Building

WAITE PARK -- With a lack of space inside the public works facility, the Waite Park city council is looking at constructing a new building.

During this (Thursday) morning's work session the council looked over design options for the proposed building. Public Works Director Bill Schluenz says a new facility has been in discussion for the last seventeen years.

"I took this job in 1999 and the building we are in now was undersized at that time, so it's taken us a few years to get just to this point," says Schulenz.

The proposed 52,000 square-foot facility would include maintenance bays, shop areas, truck-trailer parking, offices, wielding bays, a drive through wash bay, vehicle storage, and cold storage. There would also be an 8,000 square foot salt shed next to the building.

Schluenz says when they began designing the building they wanted something large enough to fit their needs, yet have enough room for potential growth.

"That's the big part of it. We hoped to have enough interior growth, and we had to scale back because of cost. However we have the room on the property to cover the city's growth for the next 20 years," says Schluenz.

Construction costs on the facility would be roughly $10-$11-million. However, there could be an additional $3-million if the council decides to build a separate community center on the site (which would sit near the proposed amphitheater location).

No action was taken, but the council did suggest the architects go back and tweaking the designs to save some costs, as well as hold off on the community center aspect.

Schluenz say they hopes to have final designs completed next month, start collecting this summer, and begin construction in the fall.

The proposed public works building would be south of the intersection of Highway 23 and 17th Avenue, (which they will build this summer).