A rolling endeavor

Diede Construction workers build the new fleet shop off Ham Lane. The shop will service the city's fleet of vehicles, including fire engines, buses and street sweepers. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

A rolling endeavor

Lodi's new $3 million fleet shop is on the rise

By Chris Nichols
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 6:08 AM PDT

Comments (20 comment(s))

With hammers pounding and scissor lifts beeping all around, city leaders on Tuesday morning toured the construction site of Lodi's new $3 million fleet shop.

Tucked off Ham Lane at the Municipal Services Center, the project hasn't garnered much attention. Neither has the old fleet shop next door, where for decades city workers serviced everything from city buses to street sweepers to emergency vehicles.

But with a growing fleet and limited space at the old shop, officials say the new 14,250 square-foot building will be a benefit that deserves public notice.

It will speed up fleet maintenance and give city crews a large new space to fix even the biggest city vehicles, many of which just don't fit inside the old shop.

"Our job is to service the departments so they can service the city," Dennis Callahan, Lodi's fleet and facilities manager, said during a break in the tour. "If the police cars don't run and the fire trucks don't roll, people are going to notice that pretty quick."

City mechanics are often forced to work outside, exposed to summer heat and winter rains. That's the only room they have to service vehicles like the fire department's "tiller," its biggest truck, and the GrapeLine

's trolley. That slows access to the city's nearby fuel pumps, where the roughly 420 city vehicles and pieces of equipment fill up.

City of Lodi's new fleet shop at a glance

The 14,250-square-foot building is set to open in January 2009, providing more space for city crews and making maintenance more efficient.

Deide Construction of Woodbridge is the contractor.

The new shop will cost $3 million, with $2.1 million covered by state funds.

It will include four light-duty work bays and four heavy-duty work bays.

Its radiant heating design will make heating more efficient. It was designed to accommodate solar panels on its roof. The city is seeking funds for those panels.

Once the project is complete, the city will seek to find a new use for the old fleet shop.

Source: Lodi Fleet and Facilities Manager Dennis Callahan and Transportation Manager Tiffani Fink

Officials said the new shop won't be finished until early January. But crews from Diede Construction, the project's contractor, have made progress: Its steel frame is up, rising 32 feet at its tallest point. Concrete foundations for the eight work bays — the old shop has five — have been laid.

A competitive state grant awarded by the California Transportation Commission will cover $1.85 million of the project. State gasoline tax revenue will cover another $250,000, and city funds will cover the remainder, said Tiffani Fink, Lodi's transportation manager.

Callahan said the new shop will make maintenance easier and more efficient for city crews. The city will be able to store vehicle parts onsite rather than accessing them from an offsite warehouse as it does now, he noted.

Callahan said a solid wall will cover the west side of the new shop, providing a sound barrier for the strip of stucco homes bordering the project. There are no funds for a separate sound wall in front of the home, he said, noting the city will strive to be a good neighbor.

City vehicles are serviced from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. each day. On Tuesday, everything from a pair of undercover police cars to an Electric Utility District bucket truck were in for work. Ten staff members are employed at the shop, from mechanics to a parts clerk to an administrative assistant.

Callahan said he has asked the city to fill a vacant maintenance position, but does not expect to gain additional staff at the new shop.

Once the new shop opens, the city will find a new use for the old one, officials said.

The early morning tour doubled as the Lodi City Council's weekly shirtsleeve meeting. Council members and department heads donned white hard hats and sipped Starbucks coffee as they listened to Callahan and other officials detail the project plans.

Councilman Bob Johnson, following the meeting, said he sees the new shop as "an investment in our fleet."

"If we don't have a facility to properly maintain our fleet, we're going to lose them faster than we should," he added.

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

edumacation wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:26 PM:

" I read all this information about buses and I wonder. Why do we have them? I can understand they could be helpful for people who use wheelchairs on rainy days. But, as I recall, the only person I ever say in a bus was the driver. I looked at the schedules and realized that if you rode a bicycle on the same route, you could do it much faster. Why do we have so many routes in this small town? How much is this costing us? It looks like it would be extremely expensive for the minimal use. I bet we could do it cheaper with a private limo service? "

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