Final Oversight Report on South Regional Roads Maintenance Facility Project

The project team used a quantitative tool developed by FMD to evaluate delivery methods for SRRMF. This is a best practice supported by the Auditor’s Office and could be adapted for use by other County agencies considering alternative delivery methods. The Executive’s effort to solicit private developer interest in delivering the SRRMF project demonstrated this alternative delivery method could be feasible for a maintenance facility and site work project like SRRMF. The proposals also indicate some potential for capital project cost savings over the traditional design-bid-build delivery method.

In coordination with the Facilities Master Plan, RSD should explore the timing of combining the Black Diamond and Summit Pit maintenance operations, and the Executive should review the value of retaining the Black Diamond site for emergency response and other County uses.

This report provides a final assessment of the South Regional Road Maintenance Facility (SRRMF) project, cancelled in March 2012. SRRMF was intended to construct a new facility at a King County (County) owned property in Ravensdale to consolidate operations from the Road Services Division’s (RSD) Black Diamond and Summit Pit road maintenance facilities to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. Project funding was to come from the proceeds of selling the Summit Pit site. The County Executive (Executive) cancelled the SRRMF project in March 2012 after determining it could not negotiate an acceptable price for the property. The Executive forecasts it will spend approximately $4.4 million on SRRMF. This includes packaging the preliminary design and permitting work already completed for future use. Approximately $2.9 million was spent on other RSD projects in anticipation of Summit Pit sale revenue. Three hundred sixty-thousand dollars was spent on the effort to sell Summit Pit.