Council Discusses Plans for New Revere Public Works Building

The Revere City Council reviewed the city’s plans for the construction of a new 37,500 square-foot public works building on the current Revere DPW site at 321A Charger St.

During a public hearing on the matter Monday night, Simon Tempest, project manager for the DPW Yard, and David Kelley, of Merdian Associates, Beverly, made a presentation about the new project.

“We are here to propose to demolish the existing DPW building and propose a larger, more modern, more functional building for use of the DPW,” said Kelley.

He said the larger building will allow more room for the storage of equipment and to keep the site cleaner. There will be new pavement on the site.

“The new building will allow for better office space, training rooms, and other rooms to maintain the equipment and meet DPW needs,” added Kelly. “There will be 51 parking spaces that will be available to the public. There will two security gates on either side, so the public cannot access around the building. But they will still be able to park, go in, pay water bills, do whatever they need to do.”

Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino recalled that he worked as at the Revere DPW, “as a teenager over ten years ago, and the DPW  facility that’s there’s now needed to be rebuilt back then, so God only knows how bad it’s gotten over ten years.”

Serino asked whether there would be an area at the new facility where mechanics could fix DPW equipment. “We have included repair bays in the new facility,” Tempest said.

Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo, who has a great sense for getting to the heart of the matter and what his constituents want to know, asked, “When will the first shovel go into the ground? More importantly, what will be the estimated total cost, and will this facility to be technologically upgraded?

“We can’t say exactly, but we’re hoping to go out to bid at the end of year, December or January,” replied Tempest. “For the cost estimate, we’re working on that right now.”

“Twenty million dollars or less? asked Rotondo.

“More than $20 million,” said Tempest.

Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky said the new DPW building is long overdue, and he put in the first motion for a new building seven years ago.

“So, I feel proud that we’ve gotten to this point,” said Novoselsky. “And I look forward to hearing more about it at the subcommittee meeting.”

Councillor-at-Large Steven Morabito asked Tempest what the expected time frame for the project would be.

“We’re allowing 18 months. We think it probably be done in 12, but with the supply chain issues, we want to give a comfortable window for the contractor to be able to complete it,” said Tempest.

Morabito then asked, “Now if the economy sinks, if it’s going to come to a stop, are we planning for that as well?”

“I think that’s very difficult to predict, but I think if we sign a contract, the contractor is committed to complete the building for that price,” said Tempest.

Council President Anthony Zambuto said residents have been looking forward to having a new DPW building for a long time, “so this is a step along the way, and we’ll see you in zoning (subcommittee).”