Here's what Chambersburg's future public works campus on Wayne Avenue will look like

The Borough of Chambersburg has a design for a long-planned public works campus that will bring multiple departments into one area.

The new campus to be built south of Wayne Avenue and primarily west of South Fourth Street will be the new home of the borough's highway, engineering and sanitation departments, and the maintenance crews from the motor equipment and water and wastewater departments.

The campus is scheduled to open in 2026, according to a borough news release.

Plans have been underway since 2019 , when the borough announced it would buy the former Wagner Supply Depot property, 366 Wayne Ave., with the goal of relocating the sanitation, motor equipment and highways department operations from the borough's aging facility on Loudon Street.

The scope of the project expanded as opportunities came up to buy neighboring properties. While the just-released design of the public works campus shows the former Wagner Supply Depot will be home to a significant part of the new campus, it is among 14 of 17 properties on the block the borough has purchased for the project.

That list includes the now-demolished Cold Storage building at 1335 S. Fourth St., at the rear of the former Wagner Supply Depot; the former Chambersburg Mini Self Storage at 1332-34, which sits on the other side of the street; and several private properties (whose previous owners have lease-back agreements with the borough). By the end of the summer, the borough plans to own all but three private homes on the block.

What operations will move to the new public works campus, and why?

The current facilities are not suitable for today's needs. Some operations that will move to the public works campus never had their own home to begin with.

At the Loudon Street garage facility, now home to the key maintenance operations that will move to the new campus, there is no room to grow, the foundation is cracked and its location along the Conococheague Creek puts it at risk for flooding. The facility was built in the 1920s.

The public works campus will have a modern maintenance building "for over 150 pieces of motorized equipment, trash trucks, pickup trucks, electric utility trucks, vacuum trucks, excavators, fire trucks and police cars, maintained by the employees of the Borough of Chambersburg," according to Borough Manager Jeff Stonehill. It will be a big change from today, where crews sometimes need to work on equipment outside.

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The borough's civil and utility engineering operation will also move to the campus, allowing employees to work alongside other public works administrators. The office is currently headquartered at Borough Hall. At the current Loudon Street facility,

The borough has already renovated the former mini-storage site into field offices for the Water and Wastewater Department. It is the first time the water and wastewater crew has had a permanent headquarters, according to the borough's release.

"They mostly worked out of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which lacked appropriate vehicle and material, storage," the release states. "In addition to their new offices already operational on South Fourth Street, the campus project will include vehicle and equipment storage for the Water and Wastewater maintenance operations."

How much will the public works campus cost?

Construction of the public works campus is expected to cost around $20 million, according to a resolution Borough Council passed in April. The document also states the borough spent $3.1 million on acquiring 11 properties up to that point as well as engineering, architecture, design and bidding.

The 2024 budget includes resources for the continued planning for the public works campus. The borough has not increased taxes, at this point.

"This is a transformational project for the neighborhood," Stonehill said in the release. "In addition to federal grant money which was designated from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for this project, council has approved using the borough utilities through their motor equipment rentals, and the borough taxpayers together, will fund this community revitalization project to modernize borough operations and relocate disparate departments into one modern energy-efficient facility for generations to come.”

The borough allotted $919,900 of the $7.76 million it received in American Rescue Act funds for the purchase of the former Cold Storage building and the former Chambersburg Mini Self Storage property.

Public works campus is Chambersburg's latest modernization project

The public works campus will follow other major upgrade projects at borough facilities, both of which focused on modernization and creating efficiency.

Borough Hall was completely renovated and expanded in YEAR. The new Utility Department Addition became the new main entrance and Council Chambers, where Borough Council and the borough's committees meet, is more accessible.

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Attached to Borough Hall, the renovation and expansion of the Chambersburg Police Department was completed in 2023. Once a cramped space with lacking security measures, the new police station is a state-of-the-art facility with designated areas for each police function and strict security measures.

This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Here's what Chambersburg's future public works campus on Wayne Avenue will look like