The design of a new combined Parks and Public Works Maintenance Facility for the city of Urbandale began with a refresh of the city’s overall facilities master plan. This process focused on visioning and data collection to better define the requirements and expectations for new and existing Parks and Public Works Maintenance facilities. The master plan summarized project goals, defined and quantified space needs, illustrated a preliminary site concept and confirmed the appropriate budget for the facility. With population data showing years of stable growth and the city limits being landlocked, the master plan includes a 20-year growth projection for personnel and equipment to year 2038. Ultimately, the team recommended demolishing the cold storage building to make better use of the full site by accommodating site drainage and storm detention, improving site circulation, and allowing for future expansion. They also suggested removing the administration building, demolishing the maintenance building, re-purposing the existing sanitation vehicle parking and the existing public works vehicle parking.
Following the master planning process, the team moved into design and the project is now under construction. Beyond the master plan efficiencies identified between departments, our design team endeavored to improve efficiencies further including right-size parking stalls/counts, combining spaces where appropriate. Some of the parking spaces have multiple items located in them which helped reduce the stall counts. A few of the areas we focused on included administration offices, a fleet garage, shops, and fleet maintenance areas. Our fleet maintenance areas include mechanics office, library, maintenance/repair bays, welding, machine shop, large parts storage, parts office, wash bays, and tire storage.

The master plan was the culmination of a programming process that engaged the city staff with the design team to better understand the functions and operations in each department. It identified areas of common need or the potential for shared uses, as well as areas that may be opportunities for increased efficiencies. In so doing, the program spaces can be more flexible to meet future needs. Programming efforts included data collection, onsite observations, focus group meetings, benchmark tours, and staff interviews discussing current practices.

The city’s desire to consolidate Parks and Public Works into one facility provided opportunities for shared spaces which improve efficiencies between departments and work to avoid unnecessary duplication of spaces. During the planning process similar or like-kind spaces across departments were reviewed to assess areas that can be right-sized based on needs as well as where possible spaces could be reorganized to gain efficiencies in adjacencies and work flow, and eliminate duplicated equipment and spaces.