SANTA ANA : Maintenance Yard Construction OKd

The City Council has approved the construction of a $14.4-million corporate yard that will house administration buildings for the city’s maintenance, water and parks divisions as well as provide parking space for hundreds of city vehicles.

The council unanimously approved the project Monday after a five-minute staff presentation describing the present yard at 730 E. Warner Ave. as obsolete and the proposed new yard as long overdue.

The new yard will replace the 7 3/4-acre lot built in 1953. In a 1977 city study, that lot was called outmoded, too small and deteriorated, said Public Works Director Jim Ross.

Because the new 11 1/2-acre lot, to be located on the southeast corner of 1st and Center streets, is centrally located, city vehicle mileage should drop by 30%, he said.

The poor economy will not affect funding of the project, Ross said, because “we’ve been putting money aside from various sources for the last several years. This isn’t being funded by general fund and we don’t have to borrow any money. We’re able to go ahead and proceed.”

The current lot has insufficient parking for the 200 employees who work there and too few fuel pumps and maintenance bays for the 250 city vehicles stored there, officials said.

The new design will triple the number of fuel pumps to 15 and increase the number of service bays from 10 to 19, shortening the time it takes to repair and fuel vehicles, said Darrell Pennington, fleet manager.

Construction will start within the next 60 days and take about 18 months to complete, Pennington said.

Possible plans for the existing site include taking a portion of it to expand Delhi Park, and using the rest as a barn for storing floats for the annual holiday season parade.

Councilwoman Patricia A. McGuigan said she was pleased that the multimillion-dollar contract could be awarded to a local company. Santa Ana-based S. J. Amoroso Construction Co.’s $14.38-million bid was the lowest of nine received. The bid was 20% less than the architect’s construction estimate of $15.3 million.