Watertown council reviews scaled-back plan and funding options for new street facility

A presentation at the City of Watertown council work session laid out a revised plan and funding options for a new street facility, with staff saying design cuts and site modifications could reduce the project estimate from about $23.5 million to roughly $18.5 million.

The council heard that the building as originally designed was a little more than 53,000 square feet. After proposed reductions — including deleting cold storage, removing a wash bay, eliminating one repair bay and trimming office space and pavement — the heated vehicle storage portion would be about 34,000 square feet. Consultant estimates presented to council ranged from roughly $15 million (early, local contractor review of an earlier design) up to JLG’s current estimate of about $18.5 million after reductions.

The presentation described line-item savings: a wash bay deletion estimated to save about $2.3 million, dropping one repair bay worth about $1.2 million, a reduction of roughly $1.2 million in office area and site-modification and miscellaneous reductions estimated to save as…