A 38-acre lot the city of Springfield owns along Clear Lake
Avenue may become a $38-million complex of municipal warehouses and offices.
The city is contemplating erecting a $24 million water
distribution facility and a $14 million Public Works building in the 2100 block
of Clear Lake Avenue. The matter was slated for consideration by the
Springfield Zoning and Planning Commission Oct. 16.
“Some folks say the street garage on 17th Street, where we
currently work out of, was built in 1933,” Public Works Director David Fuchs
said. ”Other folks say it is 100 years old. It used to be the street-car barn.
It’s just a really ancient facility. It’s brick. It floods. It has raccoons in
it every once in a while. It’s long overdue (to be replaced). The street department needs a new place to
work out of.”
When seeking a new location for the garage, Fuchs said it
just made sense for his department to choose a site that was already city-owned.
It’s approximately half a mile east of the current facility at 301 N. 17th,
which is located on the west side of the Clear Lake Avenue overpass.
“It’s basically a property that we can put a new city garage
on that would allow us to bring all of our equipment under one roof, which is
really important in inclement weather,” Fuchs said. “It will give us plenty of
administrative space. And of course, we will have continuing education for all
of our employees: technical stuff as well as safety education, which is a big
part of what we do. We will also (have) material storage. We have to store road
salt and materials that we use each and every day. There will be a space for
the sign shop, the street guys, the forestry crew. Everybody would be able to
comfortably work out of the space.”
City engineer Nate Bottom said about 100 people would work
in the new building. No decision has been made on what to do with the current
facility. Bottom said it could be used to store snowplowing equipment but would
most likely be razed.
The Water Distribution Facility, which would be built nearby,
will house an additional 55 people, according to Doug Brown, chief utility
engineer for City Water, Light & Power. Brown said the water distribution
facility will house crews that repair water mains.
“It will have our trucks that service the water distribution
network,” he said. “All the mains will
be there. Also, there will be backhoes, dump trucks, all that stuff. There also will be places out there that store
sand, gravel, rock and dirt.”
Initially, the CWLP building was to be erected near the current
facility at 401 N. 11th St., just east of the 10th Street
railroad tracks. To the west of the tracks is the historic 1908 Springfield
Race Riot site, which President Joe Biden recently designated part of the
National Park Service.
Last year, Teresa Haley, who was then president of
the Springfield branch of the NAACP and the statewide director, asked the City
Council not to build in the area. She told the council it would be
“disrespectful” to build storage garages behind a national monument.
Haley told Illinois Times the city has indicated that
it will donate the land where the water facility was to have been built to the
National Park Service.
“It would be a great place for more parking, a gift shop and
bookstore as well as a memorial garden,” Haley said. “We want people on both
sides of the railroad tracks to have a great view of the park and take real
pride in our community. This is something that needs to be remembered.”
Fuchs said construction at the new proposed site along Clear
Lake Avenue will be beneficial to the neighborhood.
“We’re just going to have a lot more people and activity in
the neighborhood,” he said. “In my
opinion, it creates a safer neighborhood just because you’ve got all the
activity. You’ve got all of those eyes
on the neighborhood and everybody coming in and out, the Dollar General is right
there, and then the senior living right across the way. So, I think it’ll have a positive effect on
just bringing attention to the neighborhood.”
The Springfield Audubon Society, which has a nature area at
2315 Clear Lake Ave., has expressed concern about the two city buildings being
built nearby, Bottom said. To mitigate those concerns, he said the city would plant
a buffer of trees between the buildings and the nature area.
“Because Clear Lake is a state route, (the Illinois
Department of Transportation) has been a part of our discussion from the very
beginning,” Fuchs said. “We are in consultation with IDOT on the condition of
the pavement, traffic control and other things.”
Brown said he anticipates it will be at least a year before
the bonds can be issued for the CWLP building.
“We have to improve the water fund first. That’s why we did
the (water) rate increases. We need to have enough days of cash on hand to meet
all our obligations and make sure we keep the bond rating agencies happy, like
Moody’s.” He said because this past
summer was rainy and fewer yards were irrigated, water revenues are lower than
expected for the city.
Once financing is complete, construction will likely take
one to two years, he said. The price tag for the building is estimated at $20
million to $24 million, he added.
Bottom said the tentative plan is to also issue bonds for
the Public Works building. When the building would be constructed is dependent on
the City Council’s timeline, he said. But he said construction of the $14
million garage would likely take about 18 months.
This article appears in 15 Under Fifteen – 2024.