Nearly three years after fire destroyed about half of Town of Irondequoit public works building and 17 town vehicles, officials on Friday dedicated a new facility at a new location.
It’s located on East Ridge Road, land that the town acquired through a land-swap with New York state. The previous building was near Titus Avenue and Kings Highway.
Town Supervisor Dave Seeley says considering all that had to be done to acquire the land, get the funding and construct the new facility, things really went along at a pretty brisk pace.
“It involved converting what really was not a shovel-ready site into one that we could erect a 74,000 square foot structure as well as all the ancillary structures as well. We broke ground in April of last year, so to think we accomplished all that construction in about 20 months, really is remarkable,” Seeley said. He said the project was completed on-time and under budget.
And Seeley says the new facility is not only a lot larger than the previous DPW operation, it also has technical abilities that will help the public works department run more efficiently.
“A lot of technology that we’re using (as) we’re constantly looking obviously to become a more efficient, effective organization. So, simply monitoring where our vehicles are, how they’re stored, how they’re kept; that’s going to help with our workflow, it’s going to help as we continue to refine our operational procedures,” Seeley explained.
The new facility is about a $17 million project. Some money is coming from the state and the insurance company, but the largest chunk is funded through the bonding process by the town.
