REDMOND — The city of Redmond is moving ahead with long-standing plans to move and enlarge the city’s public works facilities.

The Redmond City Council recently awarded a contract to Bend-based BBT Architects to design the project at a cost of $431,000.

The project will be put out to bid next spring and, after about a year of construction, the facility should be ready to move into in the spring of 2009, said public works Director Chris Doty.

Meanwhile, another goal of the City Council is to replace city hall. But plans to replace the current city hall, originally built in 1940 as a Safeway store and later used as school district offices, aren’t moving as quickly.

Within 30 days, the city intends to advertise a request for qualifications to find development firms to help the city identify the best location for a new city hall within a two-block area of the current building, as well as an estimated cost and timing for construction.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a number of proposals,” said Jim Hendryx, Redmond’s Community Development Department director. “We’re looking for people who’ve done similar projects.”

The three firms scoring highest in the request for qualifications process will be asked to complete proposals for a public-private partnership to construct a city hall, parking structure and plaza, and perhaps associated retail or condos, Hendryx said. The city hopes to have a proposal to consider by sometime next spring.

Growth is spurring the new construction.

The public works project has been in the works for a number of years because the department has outgrown its current site. The facility sits on airport property, and the Public Works Department makes annual lease payments of $50,000 to the airport. The Redmond Airport also wants to redevelop the site, along with the adjacent old Juniper Golf Course property.

“They’ve been patient,” Doty said. “We’ll be getting out just in time for the site to redevelop.”

The current public works compound encompasses about 8 acres, but it’s in an awkward configuration.

“We’ve outgrown the facilities,” Doty said, both in terms of services and number of employees. Also, the site is split by increasingly busy Veterans Way, and with the warehouse on the other side of street from the rest of the facility, there are safety concerns for employees.

Water and parks division employees are housed in modulars that aren’t efficient, Doty said. One is a hand-me-down from the school district and isn’t worth saving, he said. The city will reuse the newer one somewhere else, perhaps at the wastewater treatment site.

The new facility will be built at East Antler Avenue and Northeast 11th Street and will have plenty of room to grow.

The east side industrial area is “a good place for us,” Doty said. “We can be noisy (and) equipment and stockpiles can be unsightly.”

The facility will include a 15,375-square-foot administration building; a 16,000-square-foot warehouse; a 6,000-square-foot covered equipment building; and a 9,990-square-foot vehicle maintenance building, all designed with space to add on in the future.

Eight acres are included in the current development plans with another seven acres for storage, stockpiles and future expansion.

Doty estimated that the new facility probably would meet building needs for about 10 years, but the buildings will be able to expand as needed to almost twice the original size.

“We can’t pay for all of it now, but we can plan for it,” he said.

The new facility also will allow all of the divisions of public works — administration, transportation, parks, water, wastewater and engineering — to be housed under one roof again. Currently, engineering is downtown in leased space near City Hall.

“It’s an exciting time to lay out a site,” Doty said, and a chance to practice good design principles.

“Usually, we’re in the position to be telling others what to do; this time, we can practice what we preach,” he said about designing the site for maximum efficiency, good access and traffic circulation.

The preliminary cost of the project is estimated at $7.67 million, fully furnished, including design costs.

The city will pay for the project through a bond.

The city has $2 million in a reserve fund, which includes cash and money from a contract land purchase, dedicated to the public works facility. It will borrow the rest on 20- to 30-year terms. Loan payments will be made from contributions from the annual operating budgets of each department in public works, a total of about $300,000 per year to start, Doty said.