Public Works seeks $2.5M in CIP for fleet facility site acquisition and design; council urged to choose site

Public Works staff told the Capital Improvement Program committee the city has been planning a consolidated fleet maintenance facility for years and asked the committee to budget two components in 2026: roughly $2 million for land acquisition (based on property market prices across the city) and about $500,000 to begin design once the council selects a site.

Staff said they have previously developed conceptual designs and that most of that prior work would be reusable for a selected site, though final orientation and engineering would depend on the property. "All the properties that we've looked at within the city... it's all been around that $2,000,000 and that's where that budget number came from," Public Works said.

Committee members discussed site options, including consolidating around DPW holdings, the business campus parcels and other vacant lots. One member noted the council had largely removed Cleveland Avenue from consideration. Staff also raised statutory considerations for Tax Increment Districts: TID funds can be used to acquire property but not to build public facilities, so how a site is funded matters.

The committee emphasized the need to inventory existing city-owned parcels before pursuing private purchases and to avoid adversarial property acquisition. The committee asked infrastructure staff for an updated inventory of candidate properties and a status report on owner outreach; members requested the planning and acquisition work proceed only after the council gives site direction.

Why it matters: a consolidated fleet facility is intended to modernize vehicle maintenance, centralize storage and reduce long-term maintenance costs; land and early design costs are substantial and interact with other high-priority capital projects and the city's borrowing capacity.