HomeMy WebLinkAboutPN_KC Renton Shop Poject Description_190426_v1Renton Shop Project Description Narrative
King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division
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King County – Renton Shop Project Description
Narrative
General Project Background
King County Parks consists of more than 200 parks, 175 miles of regional trails, and 215 miles of
backcountry trails–totaling more than 28,000 acres of property to operate and maintain. Their
headquarters for operations and maintenance (O&M) is located at the Central Maintenance Facility,
3005 NE 4th Street in Renton (see vicinity map). It also houses the dispatch center for O&M staff, fleet
vehicle and large equipment storage, warehouse and inventory storage, and King County Parks’ event
operations and dispatch center.
The King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division is replacing
the existing Central Maintenance Facility (Parcel No. 1434000012). The existing post-World War II-era
facility is aging, is not connected to the City’s sanitary sewer system, and cannot accommodate the
planned expansion of staff, equipment, and vehicles. The replacement facility, developed on the same
site, will be called the King County Parks - Renton Shop. The Renton Shop will address currently unmet
service needs, be built to current building and environmental standards, and will accommodate
projected future staff growth. The Renton Shop will greatly improve the function and space for shop
operations, enhance vehicle and pedestrian safety within the facility with better site circulation and
flow, and provide needed office space, meeting rooms, storage and shop space to support planned
growth.
Description of Current Project Site and Adjacent Properties
The project site was subdivided into an approximately 5.7 acre (248,672 square foot) parcel from a
larger County-owned property in 2016 (REC #20160303900006), and is zoned light industrial. Adjacent
land uses include:
• North: former King County Public Health office building recently purchased for redevelopment by
Renton Technical College
• South: owned by King County Roads Division, vehicle and equipment storage
• East: beyond the access road is a vacant private parcel that historically was mined for sand and
gravel and is now being used to accept fill dirt under a City of Renton Grading Permit
• West: Self-Storage business
The site is generally flat with a slight slope downward from east to west. No wetlands or streams were
identified on site with the nearest mapped wetland occurring on a large parcel on the east side of the
private access road. Along the western property line is a short section of steeper slope westward to the
self-storage business. City of Renton critical areas mapping (City of Renton Maps, accessed June 2018)
shows this steeper section as a Regulated Slope, between 15 and 25 percent slope. The property is also
within the City’s Wellhead Protection Area, Zone 2.
Renton Shop Project Description Narrative
King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division
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The site has two primary buildings: the first houses administrative and supervisory staff, and the other
building is for the field crews. There are additional areas for covered storage structures, maintenance
and laydown yard, fleet vehicle parking, and employee parking. The site is surfaced with gravel and
some areas of pavement. There are few trees or landscaping with the exception of a small pocket
adjacent to the administration building and along the west boundary line. The facility is accessed via a
single driveway off of the King County-owned private street along the east property line.
Description of Proposal -
The Renton Shop will modernize the site and provide additional capacity to meet current and future
demand for staff space and equipment/fleet vehicle storage. The project includes the following major
features:
• Demolition of all existing buildings.
• Utility work to connect the site to the City sanitary sewer system, and relocate and extend the water
main serving the site.
• Site preparation for paving building construction and landscaping.
• Construction of 3 buildings:
o Administration Building CA = 27,000 square feet (2 stories)
o Shops Building SH = 20,900 square feet (2 stories)
o Storage Building ST = 4,500 square feet
o Covered but not enclosed outdoor storage along west and north property lines = 7,700 square
feet
• Administration building housing conference room space, supervisor offices, crew workstations, and
multiple restrooms.
• A large equipment / fleet vehicle parking area and outdoor wash area.
• Miscellaneous sheds for chemical storage, such as fuel containers, fertilizers, pesticides, equipment
maintenance fluids etc.
• 134 parking spaces for visitors and staff, including five electric vehicle charging spaces and seven
accessible (Americans with Disabilities Act Adult Guideline compliant) spaces.
• Perimeter chain link and security fencing to cordon off the shops, storage, and fleet vehicle and
equipment storage area.
• Improved site circulation for large delivery trucks with the addition of a second driveway off of the
private access road.
• Sustainable building design features, such as Net Zero Energy, with an aspirational goal to
implement portions of Living Building Challenge, to improve energy efficiency and result in lower life
cycle costs than a conventional building design.
• Space designated on-site for future Administration Building CA expansion area.
• The former Kingdome Stadium flag pole that flew from the roof may be installed as a ground-
mounted pole at the Renton Shop. A final flag pole location is pending final County approval so all
Renton Shop Project Description Narrative
King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division
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potential locations have been identified on the site plan.
The Administration Building CA will be oriented to take advantage of the southern exposure and
southerly winds to act as natural ventilation and cooling. The Shops Building SH is more centrally located
on the site. Along the north and west boundaries, a variety of storage areas will include ecology block
material storage bins, utility trailers and other equipment parking, and Building ST.
During construction, the work may be phased to allow continuous occupation of the site by parks staff
or arrangements made to allow temporary office accommodations and parking made on available
County-owned property in the immediate vicinity. It is envisioned that up to 4 temporary job trailers
may be required to house County parks staff, construction managers, and contractors on-site or on a
nearby County-owned parcel and be removed prior to final certificate of occupancy of the new
buildings.
At this time King County has identified construction occurring during the 2020-2022 time frame. A
minimum two-year construction window is anticipated due to phasing to allow continuation of parks
maintenance operations and dispatch from the site as construction is ongoing. Because of the potential
delays related to the phasing, King County Parks requests extensions for civil construction and building
permit approvals to be valid for a period of 3 years from the date of issuance; thereby avoiding the need
to reapply for new permits while construction is on-going.
A Conditional Use Permit is typically required of governmental offices and facilities; however, a pre-
application report prepared in October 2014 by the City of Renton Planning for a different King County
Parks maintenance facility site plan at this same site determined that the redevelopment was a
continuation of an established use of the property and a Conditional Use Permit was not required. A
subsequent pre-application meeting in August 2018 determined that the project did in fact trigger the
need for a new Conditional Use Permit process, not because of a change in use, but because the project
value is $10 million or greater.
Staffing
There are 84 staff that currently report to the site; however, that number is projected to increase to 103
by 2023 when the Renton Shop facility is operational. The administrative and O&M supervisory staff are
on-site during general working hours Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The field crew staff
report to the facility Monday through Thursday at 6:00 am for an hour to receive their daily itinerary and
prepare their equipment and fleet vehicles for the day before leaving to their assigned site and
returning between 3 and 4 p.m. to conduct end of day business before leaving at 4:30 p.m. The crew
staff increase of seasonal employees between March and November has been accounted for in the
projected staff totals.