Monclova Township to expand maintenance building
9/28/2005Monclova Township's Keener Road maintenance facility is getting an upgrade. The expansion, which could cost nearly $1 million, will allow the township to keep its trucks indoors and store more road salt, along with improving the current facilities.
Trustees approved the master plan for the project last week and contracted with the Buehrer Group of Maumee, which did the preliminary designs, township Administrator Harold Grim said.
The project, still in the design process, has four phases:
●Phase one is a new fuel depot, which is estimated to cost $30,000.
●Phase two is a new 9,800-square-foot storage building and garage, which the architects estimate will cost about $384,000.
●Phase three calls for the existing garage to be renovated, at an estimated cost of about $245,000. A wash bay would add $105,000.
●Phase four would expand the salt storage area, at a cost of about $200,000.
Mr. Grim said the township has outgrown its maintenance garage, which is 5,980 square feet. It stores some of its equipment, which includes snow plows and mowers, outdoors, and other pieces of equipment in rented spaces off site. The upgrade would allow it all to be kept indoors.
"We have equipment out exposed to the elements," Mr. Grim said.
The new salt storage building would hold enough salt for a whole season. Now, the township can only store enough for one snowfall.
The township has about 50 miles of roads, and sometimes runs out of salt while snow is still falling. That means some of its five-person maintenance team needs to get more salt, increasing the time it takes to cover the township, he said.
Mr. Grim said that the township has been saving money to renovate the facility and has enough on hand to pay for the first two phases now. It hopes to break ground on the fuel depot in the spring.