Renovating the current Plympton-Wyoming public works yard would cost about $950,000 less than building a new facility on Aberarder Line.

That’s the conclusion of a report by Adam Sobanski, the township’s superintendent of public works.

Sobanski came to council recently saying some work needed to be done at the garage on Oil Heritage Road near London Road – including a new salt shed – and suggested instead of just renovating, the township consider building a new facility at the water treatment plant on Aberarder Road.

“We’re getting cramped out there,” says Mayor Lonny Napper of the Reece’s Corners facility adding it is “pretty hard to expand” at the current site. “We’re looking down the road.”

Sobanski in a report to council says simply maintaining the current building will cost about $565,000 over the next 15 years. Expanding the site to make it more useful would cost about $2,049,000.

“Space in the existing facility is limited. The addition of an indoor wash bay, increased indoor equipment storage, and enlarged work areas could increase productivity. Adding the noted space to the existing facility may not be as effective as constructing a new purpose-built facility,” he writes.

Building a new public works facility on the 100 acres the town owns would be more costly, about $3,265,000. Sobanski says real estate agents estimate the township could net about $650,000 from the sale of the current yard and the former Plympton municipal building which is now rented by Lambton Elderly Outreach. That rent – about $18,000 per year – would be lost revenue.

Sobanski didn’t expect the cost to run the new facility would be substantially different than what the township now pays.

Napper says council is considering the report now but hasn’t made a decision. He’s hopeful the financial picture would be a little better saying he expected the sale of the current buildings would have brought in far more revenue. “I thought it would be higher than that…I thought we could because of the nice (business) corridor there.”