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DPW Facility Improvement Project
The Nantucket Department of Public Works operates primarily out of a site to the north of the landfill and transfer station on Madaket Road. The portion of the site used by the DPW, comprised of approximately 13 acres, is a generally irregular shape and includes a total of 10 connected and free-standing buildings, an above-ground fueling facility, plus miscellaneous small structures and shipping containers scattered across the acreage.
The Madaket Road facility has been developed in a generally haphazard fashion over many decades, and while some structures are structurally sound and operationally useful, others have long since exceeded their expected lives and are not suitable for redevelopment or continued use.
There is currently no single operational or habitable headquarters where employees can report for work, change and store their belongings, wash-up, eat their lunch, or assemble for training or other purposes.
There is inadequate interior vehicle storage resulting in exterior storage of much of the Department’s fleet, including emergency response vehicles. This exterior storage contributes to decreased service life and increased maintenance cost to the equipment. This is amplified by the absence of vehicle washing facilities to control salt corrosion.
There is inadequate storage space for construction materials, supplies, and handling of waste materials and out-of-service vehicles.
There is inadequate general shop space, which is exacerbated by the need to use vehicle service bays for protected equipment storage. The very small size of the free-standing carpentry shop requires much work to be performed outdoors.
Proposed Facility
A Facility Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study carried out by Weston & Sampson Engineering in January 2017 confirmed the deficiencies in the existing facilities as well as the impacts to the operations associated with those deficiencies. Since that time, the Town and Weston & Sampson have worked to advance the DPW Study to look at potentially relocating the facility from the Madaket Road site due to flooding concerns, to a property on Sun Island Road or possibly Shadbush Road. If the Shadbush Road site is selected, it is likely that the DWP Facility will be safely co-located on a parcel along with a proposed recreational shooting range.
In addition, the DPW Study Team is in the process of assessing the Department functions to be accommodated by the new facility. While this is still a work in progress, the current proposed facility size is approximately 58,200 square feet, which includes space allocated for office/administrative areas, employee facilities, workshops, vehicle maintenance, vehicle wash, vehicle storage and canopy storage. Other operations to be accommodated include vehicle fueling, salt storage and materials storage. The facility is being designed to serve both the current and the future needs of the DPW and the Town.