Acting on a recent engineering analysis that convincingly illustrated the benefits of relocating the City’s Public Works Yard to Beechwood Avenue, a 6 to 1 bipartisan Council majority voted on Tuesday to issue bonds in the amount of $600,000 to fund the design of a new DPW facility. This is a significant step toward moving the Public Works Yard away from our waterfront, thereby creating opportunities for shoreline development, parkland, and public access.
Detailed design is the necessary precursor to construction. To move forward to the next phase, the Council would have to vote again next year on a larger bond resolution, estimated at about $12.5 million.
These are big numbers, and they rightly give many Council Members pause, especially at a time when money is very tight. But it is essential to recognize that relocating the Public Works Yard to Beechwood Avenue is the least costly option. Therefore, acting on this priority now makes sense not only from an operational and planning perspective, but also from a fiscal perspective. For more details, please see my post on this subject from last month.
I applaud the Council for its decisive action.