DPW Facility Needs & Site Evaluation

As part of their DPW Facility Needs and Site Selection Study, the Barrientos team conducted a needs assessment to determine the optimal square footage of a future Public Works facility. Of the many services the Shorewood DPW provides, collections tasks - refuse, yard waste and bulk leaf collections - actually require the largest footprint, due to the 20,000 square feet of space required for the transfer station (Click here to learn more about DPW's transfer station).

If DPW employees are to continue to provide the current level of collection services, a transfer station is required. If a future facility does not include a site for a transfer station, service levels will decrease (reduced collection frequency, elimination of some services and/or reduced level of service) OR these services will be privatized.

Based on current information, under either of these scenarios, it is likely that vacuum leaf collection would be eliminated and leaves would be bagged for collection. When these services were reviewed in 2016, it was determined that Shorewood employees could perform collections tasks at a lower cost than a private vendor and at a higher level of service.

With this information in mind, please click here to complete a two question survey and provide your feedback.

Comments/feedback about the DPW facility and site selection can still be sent to jkoch@barrientosdesign.com.

The Village of Shorewood is undertaking a concerted effort to improve or replace the current DPW facilities located at 3801 N. Morris Blvd. Over the last 15 years, the Village has procured two design studies and three organizational studies as referenced in the Public Buildings and Plans, Studies & Reports pages of our website. 

The current DPW facilities are undersized and physically spread over various outdated buildings. This condition has resulted in a drag on operational efficiency by requiring more staff-hours to perform work, exposing vehicles to the elements, and necessitating frequent repair costs. This was re-confirmed by the most recent 2022 Process Evaluation Report for Major Investments in Department of Public Works conducted by UW Milwaukee.

Operationally, the Village’s DPW is organized into three main divisions: Services, Fleet & Facilities, and Utilities. These three divisions cover a number of operations including: refuse and yard waste collections, forestry, horticulture, building and vehicle maintenance, streetlight maintenance, traffic control maintenance (signals and signs), water distribution system, sewer collection system, and administrative functions, including engineering and contract management.

Major building and yard functions involved in the DPW facilities include:
1. Vehicle & Equipment Parking
2. Truck Washing
3. Parts Storage
4. Repair Garage
5. Crew Support
6. Administration
7. Bulk and Yard Storage
8. Drop-off Centers and Waste Collection

Existing Site Diagram

Existing Public Works Facilities

DPW Exterior

STUDY SCOPE

The Village hired Barrientos Design and Consulting in November 2022 to conduct a needs assessment, site evaluation and conceptual plan for an improved facility. The work will be conducted in three phases, each building upon the previous. 

The first phase, Facility Needs, will establish the building and site design criteria including: establishing DPW’s workflow of operations, defining facility needs, integrating future trends, benchmarking with industry standards, arranging optimal building and site plan, determining sustainability opportunities, and finalizing site selection criteria. This phase will be conducted through a series of workshops and focused discussion groups with pertinent staff.

The second phase, Site Evaluation, will involve identifying and screening candidate sites with the Village, along with test-fit site arrangements for each site. Following a top-level review of each site’s benefits and drawbacks, these will be numerically rated for their facility benefits.  

The third phase, Conceptual Planning, will take the top three candidate parcels and advance these to a conceptual design level where we analyze site engineering factors such as: historic character,  utility locations and capacity, roadway capacity and traffic impact, topography, soils conditions, history of potential hazardous uses, and a review of the title for any easements or land use restrictions.  In this conceptual phase, the building design will be advanced with further definition on specific room layouts, parking counts, heavy equipment selection, site engineering, and yard facility features. 

As we progress, the design team will be updating this page with space tabulations, relationship diagrams, fleet diagrams, diagrammatic floor plans, site plan concepts, and cost estimates for the options generated. We will also post schedule information when we will be making public presentations to the Village Board and our community stakeholders.

Community Workshops Date/Time Materials Presentation Public Comments
Community Workshop #1 Wednesday, January 25 6:00-8:00 PM Flyer Presentation
Community Workshop #2 Thursday, February 23 6:00-8:00 PM Flyer Presentation Comments
Community Workshop #3 Thursday, March 23 6:00-8:00 PM      
*all workshops held at 3801 N. Morris Blvd.