By Brian Kelly
Herald Writer
CAMANO ISLAND — Work on a new $1.5 million Island County public works maintenance facility is expected to get under way later this month.
The new maintenance facility, which will house heavy equipment, a repair shop and an office for public works crews, will be built close to the old one on East Camano Drive. The land where the current one is located will be used in the years ahead for new county offices. The maintenance shop, built about 30 years ago, is reaching the end of its useful life.
"It’s pretty old and undersized. And it’s also in a location where we plan in about six or seven years to build the new Camano annex," said Gary Hess, a public works engineer for Island County.
The new facility will be built immediately south of the existing Island County office annex.
The Island County board of commissioners selected Pottle &Sons Construction of Ferndale to build the project. The firm had the winning bid of 13 submitted. The company has built other public projects, including the Skagit Valley College bookstore and campus center remodel, the city of Redmond’s Willows Road transmission line and the Puget Street extension in Bellingham.
Bids ranged from $1.5 million to more than $2 million. Island County’s architect estimated the work would cost $1.6 million.
"It was a pretty good spread; it covered the whole range," Hess said.
Pottle &Sons will have 330 days to get the work done. The work could begin within the next two weeks, Hess said, and if it does, the project should be finished by next September.
The project includes a 6,800-square-foot service building and a three-sided, 6,400-square-foot pole building where heavy equipment will be parked. The service building will have an office and crew quarters, and the maintenance facility will boast a vehicle wash bay with a system that recycles the water, four mechanic’s bays and a repair shop.
You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.
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