Chambersburg plans to move public works building and create creek access park

The Borough of Chambersburg has plans to move its public works facility to a new location that works better for modern needs. 

The former Wagner Supply Depot property, at 366 Wayne Ave., has "good bones," according to Public Works Director Phil Wolgemuth, and with renovations will be better suited to host the sanitation, motor equipment and highways departments than the current facility at the intersection of Loudon and South Franklin streets. 

“The plan is to have the Sanitation Department buy the site and renovate it over time to include facilities for their use as well as the motor equipment maintenance operation of the Borough, and some facilities for the Highway Department," Borough Manager Jeff Stonehill said in a news release. "This is the same basic function as now housed at the Loudon Street facility, which will be relocated sometime in the future, after renovations are completed.”

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The current facility is reaching the end of its useful life, Wolgemuth said. Its vehicle maintenance bays are too small for the trucks used today, storage space is lacking with no room to grow, and it neighbors the Conococheague Creek and is in the floodplain. 

The borough has entered into a conditional sales agreement for the sanitation department to buy the Wayne Avenue site for $1.2 million. There will be no impact on taxes, according to Heath Talhelm, president of Borough Council. 

The sanitation department plans to use an upcoming bond sale to finance the cost. Borough Council has already given tentative approval for the water department to sell a bond in early 2020 to finance the construction of the Julio D. Lecuona Water Treatment Plant in Greene Township, and the sanitation department will add the acquisition onto the bond and pay if off using trash fees over the next 20 years, according to the release. 

The property is composed of a 18,348-square-foot building and several adjacent parcels. A majority of it is warehouse space, which contains two loading docks and a 14-foot drive-in door, while the rest is office space and related areas. 

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The borough expects to begin developing plans to renovations next year, with construction to begin no earlier than 2021. Occupancy is slated for 2023. 

“We hope that we can improve this neighborhood and be a good neighbor to the homes and businesses around Wayne Avenue and S. Fourth Street. I am confident the Sanitation Department facility will be screened from neighbors’ backyards and we will work with the neighborhood to clean up some other area issues," Talhelm said in the release.  

Once the public works departments move to the new facility, the borough hopes to develop a creek access park adjacent to the Loudon Street Bridge on an area of the property currently used to store dump trucks and other motor equipment. It plans to sell the rest of the property.