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Monroe committee reviews feasibility study of three candidate sites for joint public works facility
Summary
A Fairgram feasibility study evaluated Abley Road (county-owned), a Donnie property near the industrial park, and the Dolan site near Walmart. Each site has tradeoffs: Abley offers utility-extension potential, Donnie aligns with an industrial park, and Dolan is quickest to develop but has large earthwork risks.
The City of Monroe and Greene County ad hoc facilities committee heard a feasibility study from Fairgram that reviewed three candidate sites for a combined Department of Public Works facility: Abley Road (county-owned), the privately owned Donnie property targeted for industrial park expansion, and the privately owned Dolan site near Walmart. Jesse Duff, project manager with Fairgram, said the study took a 10,000-foot view, assessing water, sanitary sewer and roadway needs while excluding site-specific gas and electric negotiations with utilities.
Duff outlined infrastructure needs for each parcel and emphasized that the study did not include Phase I environmental investigations or geotechnical borings. "We evaluated 3 potential sites, which were selected by the city and the county, as part of the RFQ," he said, summarizing the project's scope. The report provides conceptual site and grading plans, engineers' opinions of probable cost, and pros and cons rather than a single recommended site because the benefits differ for city and county stakeholders.
Abley Road, a roughly 40-acre county parcel, would require major roadway reconstruction, water-main extensions and sanitary sewer work; the study used a Menards reconstruction plan as a basis of design. The Donnie property would need new roadway access and portions of water and sewer extensions tied to County Highway Doctor and a proposed North 29th Avenue extension. The Dolan site has existing water and sanitary on North 2nd Street but steep topography that increases earthwork and rock risk. Duff cautioned that gas and electric costs were excluded because those costs are site-specific and negotiated with utilities.
The feasibility study includes cost estimates and contingencies but stops short of final design; Duff recommended further site-level investigations — traffic analysis, soil borings and title searches — if the committee narrows a preferred location. The committee agreed additional follow-up (including outreach to Menards and coordinating potential cost-sharing) would inform any site preference, and the next step is a multi-tier cost-benefit analysis the committee voted to fund.
