Palmer Pushes Ahead on Public Works Building

Plans for 's new are shaping up.

One week after receiving permit approval, the Palmer Township stated that bids could now be solicited for site work within the month.

Township officials said they hoped construction could start on the building in the fall, with steel work over the winter and completion sometime next year, according to the Easton Express-Times.

In the beginning of the year, Public Safety Director Tom Adams had hoped to bring public works, utilities and sewer under one roof.

Adams had presented plans for a more than 40,000-square-foot building to be built on about 20 acres along , where the township currently has a small building.

The building will actually measure 105 feet by 393 feet, he said. It will house offices for the public works, sewer authority and superintendent, as well as the kennel, a truck wash, a training room, a service center, 12 double-door truck bays and 14 single-door truck bays.

The cost is estimated to be $2.76 million.

Plans were designed by the architectural firm Portner and Hetke in Emmaus.

The township borrowed $2 million from the state for the new facility, with the remaining $500,000 to $750,000 to come from the sewer fund.