Mercer Island City Councilmembers delved into the public safety and maintenance facility design and the water supply line project during its special hybrid meeting planning session on Feb. 4.
City staff members and representatives from Seattle contractor Northwest Studio were also present at the gathering, which featured robust presentations on both projects plus a council vote to recognize Mercer Island Farmers Market board member Jennifer Goodrich as the 2024 Community Member of the Year at a future meeting. Goodrich was one of the nominees for the award.
FUTURE FACILITY
City Manager Jessi Bon led the facility design workshop, first giving a recap of the 2023 city hall closure due to asbestos contamination, describing what the city has done since that time and then leaning into the future of the site.
Council directed the permanent closure of city hall in October of 2023 and then directed Bon to commence planning for a new public safety and maintenance (PSM) facility at its March 2024 planning session. Both actions were brought about by unanimous votes.
The new building is proposed to be positioned on the current city hall campus at 9611 SE 36th St., replacing the current Public Works building and providing a new combined home for the city’s Public Works teams, police department, emergency operations center, and the information technology and geographic information systems team, according to a city document. Presently, police operate out of three modular buildings on the site and city council holds its meetings at the community and event center.
Bon said they were presenting a concept drawing at the meeting and that it will be an evolving design over the next 12 to 18 months. She added that the preliminary cost estimate for the PSM is between $105 million to $110 million. That estimate includes construction costs, soft costs, an escalation factor (cost increase of construction materials, labor and other expenses over time) and state and local sales tax.
Council will discuss facility funding later this year and that will include considering a bond ordinance for voter approval to move forward with the facility. Documents listed an estimated construction start date in the fourth quarter of 2026.
“I think it’s really important at this moment to remind ourselves, it was not just the asbestos contamination, although that was the tipping point,” Bon said at the meeting. “City hall is an aging facility. It has structural issues, is not a resilient building that we felt would make it through a substantial earthquake. In fact, all the interior walls had been identified as lacking bracing, and unless they were reinforced, would be at risk during an earthquake.”
On the asbestos front, Bon noted that the testing the city engaged in with environmental consultants revealed no airborne asbestos, and that the asbestos was primarily in the HVAC unit.
As for the Public Works building, Bon said that its at the end of its useful life and the city has outgrown the structure.
Continuing her presentation regarding the future PSM site, Bon said that it features a resilient and hearty risk-category-four design.
“The efficiency of designing this building is identifying where we can share spaces. Where Public Works and police can share,” said Bon, adding that they’ve toured regional facilities and had copious design meetings.
Aaron Young, founding partner of the Northwest Studio architectural and urban design firm, led the schematic design portion of the presentation and revealed key design strategies. Here’s some of the focus points: Co-locating buildings with covered areas for operational efficiency and for cost effectiveness; organizing the site into zones for clear and efficient use; and organizing the buildings into zones that maximize shared spaces, promote efficient operations for staff, and create clearly accessible spaces for public services.
All councilmembers offered their thoughts on the facility at the meeting.
Jake Jacobson noted that the estimated 2026 construction time frame is coming quickly and, “I think for both cost reasons and other considerations, we think about maybe putting the demolition of the existing city hall and the relocation of the police facility into a separate contract.”
Wendy Weiker added that city infrastructure work has been a long time coming: “I think the time is right. I this is a great plan to take to our community. I think these alternatives are interesting levers to think about. I think it’s high time we get there and I hope our council colleagues will help us sell this to our community, because we can’t wait.”
WATER PROJECT
In the water supply line realm, Public Works Chief of Operations Jason Kintner led the presentation at the tail end of the meeting.
The project has stemmed from a pair of water emergencies the city dealt with the last two Aprils. As a refresher, in 2023, a major faulty-valve issue arose during Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) planned work on the system that provides water to the city; and in 2024, some residents were evacuated from their homes after the city learned of a landslide risk due to a leaking SPU-owned and -maintained underground water pipe.
The city will soon continue meetings with Confluence Engineering in developing an action plan regarding the city’s water system, which they began after the first water crisis in 2023 and put on hold when the 2024 emergency arose.
“We’re happy to report that we will actually be back in front of the utility board next week (of Feb. 10) to talk about that draft action plan and some of the projects that are coming out of that resiliency and reliability work that was scheduled in 2023 and is moving forward,” said Kintner, noting that one of the early action items has the city eyeing the future expansion of its existing well capacity.
Following the installation of the booster chlorination system at its reservoir facility, the city can also treat the well water and possibly have additional potable water on the Island, Kintner said.
After the water crises — one of which featured mending a pipe that was situated in a challenging location — the city began looking at an alternative plan: building a new water supply line at the boat launch facility (where the existing SPU line ties into the city system).
Kintner explained that under this proposed alignment, the Shorewood Apartments — which is an SPU customer — could be connected permanently into the city system at two new pipe locations near Southeast 36th Street.
The project is also proposed to include replacing existing AC pipe along Gallagher Hill Road, in addition to a new curb, gutter and sidewalk on that road; repaving the roadways along Southeast 36th Street and Gallagher Hill Road; and making improvements along Southeast 40th Street.
In another portion of the project, the design team recommends the ownership transfer of an SPU-owned segment of the water pipeline — which the city pays for — to Mercer Island. That action would be up to city council’s consideration.
The city is in discussions with Shorewood representatives, said Kintner, adding that the city had already planned to fund the project in its capital program (a bulk of the funds are currently flowing through the water utility with more coming from the street fund). A cost estimate for the project wasn’t revealed at the meeting. The city has requested a state legislator for additional funding and they’re looking at Public Works trust loans and more.
To view the entire meeting, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhjNUadXk4
