Council hears 2025 construction update on wells, roads, parks and sidewalks

City staff gave the Lacey City Council a detailed 2025 construction update on March 25 outlining recently completed projects, sites now under construction and the city’s work plan for the year ahead.

Deandra Buchanan, the city’s construction manager, said the city considers a project substantially complete when the installed elements are usable. “You can see a few of them that we're going to be going over,” Buchanan said, listing recent completions including the RACC parking‑lot expansion, roundabouts at Carpenter and Britton and at Pacific Avenue and Hohman Road, and paving and sewer/water improvements in other neighborhoods.

The update matters because the projects affect drinking‑water treatment, stormwater management, traffic flow, pedestrian safety and park access across the city. Staff said about 10 projects were actively in construction at the time of the briefing and roughly 20 projects are slated for construction during 2025.

Completed and recently finished work

Staff showed before‑and‑after photos of the RACC parking lot expansion, which included stormwater work with a detention pond, lot illumination and installation of electric vehicle charging stations. The Carpenter and Britton roundabout included concrete medians, new striping, sidewalks and landscaping; Pacific Avenue at Hohman Drive was fully reconstructed to remove alligator cracking and add sidewalks and storm drainage.

Active construction and near‑term timelines

Buchanan described several active and multi‑year projects. The Madrona well facility will receive an aeration water‑treatment building, pumps, electrical controls and a permanent standby generator; the project’s timeline extends into the summer of 2026. A second pH treatment site at the West Side College Street well will add a treatment building, instrumentation and controls.

Staff also described a Source 10 (S10) well‑site project near Parkside Drive and Yelm Highway to rehabilitate a vertical turbine well to a submersible pump, replace a hypochlorite metering and monitoring system, install a new generator and restore stormwater piping and pavement.

College Street Northeast extension and related utilities

The College Street Northeast extension will connect Eighth Avenue to Fifteenth Avenue with a three‑lane section, sidewalks, utilities replacements and a new pond. The extension also includes reconstruction from Sixth Avenue and a new T intersection at Sixth and College Street Northeast; staff said the project timeline extends into summer 2026.

Greg Cuyo Park

Staff said work at Greg Cuyo Park will add a new parking lot with lighting, an ADA‑compliant playground, a picnic shelter, signage, an 18‑hole disc golf course, about 100 acres of soft‑surface trails and roughly 5 acres of hard‑surface trails. Buchanan explained the trail area in acres is used because the project contains multiple trail widths and surfaces; substantial completion for the listed items was anticipated in late summer or fall 2025.

Lift stations, sewer and roadway projects

Planned sewer and lift‑station work includes converting Lift Station 11 to a submersible lift station and installing new sewer force mains; Lift Station 23 is out to bid and will be replaced and connected to the College Street force main. Other work includes a 400‑pressure‑zone transmission main on Pacific Avenue Southeast and utility relocation along Marvin Road under an interlocal agreement with Thurston County.

Sidewalk repair program and budget

Staff described the 2025 sidewalk repair program and said the city had budgeted $1,500,000 for the year. They described a “worst‑first” approach driven by a citywide study of offsets and ramps; each candidate site must be inspected in person to confirm whether the ramp or an offset is the worst hazard. Additional details will be included in the Transportation Benefit District annual report to council in August.

Design process and scheduling

Ashley Smith, the city’s design manager, summarized the five phases of a capital project: initiation, planning (design), execution (construction), monitoring and closure. Smith said planning often takes up to two years for larger projects and explained how the city tracks projects on internal work‑in‑progress boards.

Staff noted dependencies and constraints throughout the update: some work requires coordination with state agencies (WSDOT), a county interlocal agreement for a road alignment change, and utility providers for power hookups for parks and public facilities. For example, staff said power to a park plaza will require coordination with the local utility, and a new police station schedule depends on receipt of permanent power and elevator installation.

What council directed and next steps

Council members asked clarifying questions about generator schedules, federal and state funding requests and the phasing of park construction. Staff said they will return with the Transportation Benefit District report in August and will provide ongoing status updates as projects progress through design and construction.