Council committee hears technical briefings on Mastic Road purchase for city service garage

Council members and city staff spent much of the May 4 finance committee meeting focused on a proposed purchase of the property at 22100 Mastic Road as a site for a phased city service garage.

Assistant development staff assembled six consultant studies for the parcel and presented them to council. Kim Kerber of Manikins Smith Group summarized a Phase I environmental site assessment that “did not find any items of concern” on the parcel, said two soil borings to 20 feet showed soils typical for the area but recommended localized soil stabilization, and reported a wetlands delineation that identified three on-site Category 1 wetlands totaling 0.158 acres. Kerber also summarized prior noise readings (66–75 dBA hourly averages) and flagged potential Indiana bat habitat that could limit tree-clearing to the seasonal window Oct. 1–Mar. 31.

Council members followed with technical questions about the limited scope of two borings, whether underground stormwater retention was feasible (the geotechnical consultant said it was), and how wetland disturbance thresholds would affect permitting and mitigation costs. Kerber gave a mitigation-cost example, saying wetland mitigation credits run roughly "$68,000 to $70,000 an acre," which would make a 0.1-acre disturbance roughly $7,000 in credit purchases. The presentation concluded with staff noting a Land Bank appraisal was still pending and that rezoning would be required to permit the municipal use.

Why it matters: the county provided a $1 million ARPA allocation intended for a service center; staff urged council to buy the land now to preserve a rare in-city 2.6-acre parcel while acknowledging full construction and outfitting would be phased and likely take multiple years.

What’s next: council extended a contingency deadline (see "Votes and Actions" article) to allow more time for due diligence and further design work.