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Lee County advances plan for new highway facility, aims for up to $8 million BUILD grant
Summary
Officials described completed site plans and engineering for a new consolidated highway garage and said the county will submit a U.S. DOT BUILD grant application (due Feb. 24) seeking up to $8 million; staff said the plan includes EMA storage and that construction elements the DOT won't fund are being isolated.
Lee County officials told the Finance Committee they have advanced site plans and engineering for a consolidated highway facility intended to replace the county garage in Amboy.
Tom Kitson described the existing garage as antiquated and inaccessible: “It’s like in an old… we have the worst county garage in a 9 county area,” he said, citing stairs, non‑ADA bathrooms and aging structures. County staff said borings and engineering are complete and that the county has an option on a parcel at the corner of Routes 30 and 52 that can accommodate a 120-by-300-foot heated garage with a 5,000-square-foot office. The concept also includes centralized salt storage and an emergency-management (EMA) resource building to improve response times for parts of the county.
Administrator Jeremy said the county previously sought congressional community funding but will submit a BUILD grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation, with a Feb. 24 deadline, because congressional appropriations appear unlikely this cycle. “We are almost completed with that, and it's due on February 24,” Jeremy said. The county estimates eligible BUILD funding requests potentially up to $8,000,000 but noted the DOT will not fund all construction components, so staff are separating fundable elements from those to be financed locally.
Why it matters: consolidating operations is intended to improve response times, reduce satellite storage, and modernize maintenance operations that staff say are constrained at the current, landlocked Amboy site.
What comes next: staff will finalize the BUILD grant application on Feb. 24, work through funding plan options if grants are not awarded, and return to the committee for capital financing decisions.
