The Storm Lake City Council by a 4-1 vote today (Tues) approved the purchase of the 228 Mae Street site to construct a new water tower.
Building and Code Compliance Director Scott Olesen said the site for a new 1.5-million gallon tower was selected based on a study conducted by ISG Engineering…(audio clip below :22 )
Olesen said the City cannot remove one of the existing towers and build a bigger one in its place due to the amount of storage that’s currently in the system. There are three water towers in Storm Lake, and the City current doesn’t have enough capacity to operate on just two wells.
Council member Tyson Rice voted against the agreement because the purchase price of 200-thousand dollars is four times what the site is worth. City Manager Keri Navratil said other factors were taken into consideration…(audio clip below :21 )
The City will gain possession of the Mae Street location on December 2nd of this year. The City needed to secure the site by the end of the year to be eligible for a substantial grant, as well as other grants and a state revolving loan fund which Navratil said Storm Lake will be applying for.
The new water tower will be the largest in Storm Lake, and is meant to address increasing storage needs in the community. Construction is planned for 2023.
