For the Town of Colchester’s new highway garage, Delaware Engineering provided conceptual planning and assisted the Town is developing an alternative project scope and environmental assessment package which demonstrated to FEMA the feasibility of building a new facility. Following FEMA/SEMO approval, a full building, site and stormwater design (e.g., NYSDEC SWPPP design) was completed.  

The Town’s existing, failing and outdated facility needed to be replaced. The new facility was designed to house all of the Town’s equipment with a footprint of 13,750 square feet (110’x125’). All NYS State Energy Codes were far exceeded by using Butler specific sandwich wall panels and high efficiency staging propane boilers with radiant floor heating. All illumination was completed using NYSERDA approved metal halide lighting. The facility is monitored using a state of the art fire detection and notification system.

The new facility features three dedicated repair bays with one 90,000lb Rotary in-ground 3-post lift, one 18,000lb Rotary 4-post drive on lift and one dead bay (i.e., unoccupied) for vehicle down storage. Air stations are provided with hose reels throughout the entire building, with coalescing filters and provisions for sand blasting. A 24” masonry abuse wall boarders the facility providing a strong and durable garage. Six additional garage bays are provided with power operated overhead doors for truck and equipment storage. Overhead vehicle exhaust systems are supplied in the dedicated work bays with room for future expansion.

Site design work was extensive in order to comply with NYSDEC requirements, including Delaware prepared Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). Extensive stormwater collection and treatment systems were designed to collect and treat all stormwater entering and leaving the site. A conventional subsurface treatment system treata waste from the new facility. All site related systems are logically placed as to not interfere with the site’s current usage (e.g., gravel bank operations and material storage).

Standard rooms were provided including a Superintendent’s Office, break/meeting room, men’s and women’s bathrooms, storage closet, parts storage, mechanical room and a large 3-hr rated file storage room.

A considerable amount of time and collaboration with equipment vendors went into the building design to provide both a durable and functional building for the Town. Total project costs were approximately $2.6 million.