Small Town News

Expansion of Cheneys utility building may get underway this fall

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City looks to take advantage of competitive construction market to secure beneficial bid price

Cheney's Light Department has submitted an application to conduct an expansion and remodel of the city's utility building on Anderson Road, a project brought about by the city's effort to consolidate all activities associated with construction into one facility.

The project will take place in two phases. Light department director Joe Noland said they hope to get phase one underway this fall, mainly to take advantage of a competitive construction market.

I "We're hoping with the economy to get some pretty good deals," he added.

Phase one involves the construction of a 5,000 square foot expansion of the current building, which will provide more office space for staff and a revamped, improved lobby for customers. Phase two, targeted for early spring of 2010, will involve remodeling 4,800 square feet of the existing 23,000 square foot utility building.

Also included in the work is a new fire sprinkler system for the new and existing facility, repaving and striping of the parking area to accommodate 52 passenger vehicles, an increase of 15 spaces, two semi-truck loading docks, as well as new site landscaping. The project will increase the office space for the city's 30 full time and seven seasonal employees who use the building, some of whom, like Noland, don't even have an office. Over the last year and a half, the city has moved many of its functions, like code enforcement, from other locations to the utility building. Noland said the idea for the consolidation was to create a kind of "one stop shopping" for utilizing city planning and permitting services, but resulted in moving more people into spaces that weren't built to handle the number.

The city also moved some functions out of the building, such as the Water Department, which is currently operating out of the city's Well No. 1 building, located between the Pence Union Building and Isle Hall on Eastern Washington University's campus. The working environment there is somewhat noisy, thanks to the water pumps, and potentially dangerous considering the amount of foot traffic from students passing by, and the number of Water Department vehicles using the facility.

"If they back into anybody, it's a huge liability for the city," Noland said.

The expanded and remodeled utility building will allow the Water Department to move back to Anderson Road.

Noland said they have construction estimates of $750,000-$1,000,000 for phase one, and $300,000-$400,000 for phase two. The project will be paid for out of Light Department reserves -- which must be used for these types of projects --and not from the city's general fund.

Noland said power rates for Cheney residents would not be increased to cover construction costs. Rather, the reserve fund will be reimbursed through space rental rates to the building's general fund occupants, rates he said are inexpensive and "couldn't get elsewhere" should occupants wish to rent from the private section.

The project is a permitted use for the building's location, 1-1 light industrial, and as such does not require a public hearing, Cheney city planner Elisa Rodriguez said, nor planning commission or City Council approvals.

Because the project is more than 4,000 square feet it does require completion of a SEPA checklist, including comments from other agencies and departments. It also requires application and approval of all pertinent building permits, which Rodriguez said the Light Department had not submitted yet.

Noland said they hoped to put the project out to bid later this month in order to make an award in October and get construction underway while many contractors are still "hungry" for work, something he hoped will lead to a bidding process beneficial to the city.

John McCallum can be reached at imac@cheneyfreepress.com



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© 2009 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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