Council hears $40M Carpenter Road waste facility estimate and agrees to explore contracting options

Public Works Director Mark Russell told the Olympia City Council on April 21 that a preliminary design and site work for a Carpenter Road waste resources maintenance facility would cost about $33.5 million for construction and just over $40 million in total after contingency and fees, and that financing the project over 30 years would increase annual debt service by about $3,000,000 — an estimated 24% increase to the waste utility baseline, raising the average residential bimonthly rate from $65 to roughly $81.

Russell said the city has pursued this phased replacement strategy for more than a decade because the existing East Side Street public-works maintenance center is functionally obsolete, suffers from poor mechanical and electrical systems and does not meet seismic or current ADA guidelines. He described site progress at…