Emergency Community Disaster Supplies Project

This project will enable the City to place caches of emergency supplies for 1,000 people in four discrete geographical areas of the city: Magnolia, North Seattle, Central/Southeast Seattle, and West Seattle. These caches contain cots, blankets, shelter kits, nurse kits, and emergency radios - all of which will be distributed by emergency workers in the event of a major earthquake or other disaster. Individuals and families still need to have their own stockpiles of food, water, and other supplies - enough for 72 hours.

Project Schedule

Start Date: 2004
End Date: First Quarter 2007

Estimated Cost

Approximately $760,000.

Status Report

October 2006 -
The permits have been issued for all four sites. Site work started at the Westbridge location. Earth work will begin at the Sunny Jim and Haller Lake sites in November, with construction starting in December. Work at the Catharine Blaine site will begin during the school vacation at the end of December.

September 2006 -
The design drawings and documentation for two sites have been submitted to the Department of Planning and Development for permitting, and the other two will follow in early October. Construction at the first three sites will start as soon as permits are issued. Construction at the Magnolia site will take place during Christmas break.

August 2006 -
The contract for construction of the first three buildings has been executed and a notice to proceed has been issued. Construction of the cache buildings is scheduled to be completed by December 6th, followed by stocking the supplies. Construction documents for the Magnolia site located at the Catherine Blaine School are being completed. This project is expected to be substaintially complete by the end of 2006.

July 2006 -
Contracting is underway with the low bidder for three sites (Haller Lake, Sunny Jim and Westbridge). The contract for the work the Catherine Blaine Elementary site will be bid separately, and the construction schedule will be coordinated with the school district. Final reviews of the geotechnical report and of the Haller Lake site's methane mitigation design are done, and those documents are ready for submission to DPD once the building design is completed.

June 2006 -
The project was re-bid, and staff are reviewing information on the bidders. Assembly of the shelter kits is almost completed. Seattle Public Utilities has finished drilling for soil testing at the Sunny Jim and Westbridge sites and has completed their draft soils report. The Department of Planning and Development has completed pre-application visits.

May 2006 -
Fleets and Facilities will re-bid the cache buildings and site work project, because there were no bids received by the due date of May 24. Shelter kits - containing key administrative supplies required for a functioning disaster shelter - will be assembled in cooperation with the Parks Department. Seattle Public Utilities is completing drilling for soil testing at the Sunny Jim and Westbridge sites and will begin formal evaluation of site soils.

April 2006 -
We plan to go out to bid for the cache buildings in approximately three weeks. We have determined we will be able to use an existing City vendor to procure most of the supplies for the caches.

Early December 2005 -
The City reached an agreement with the Seattle School District on a location for the Magnolia cache at Catherine Blaine Elementary. Fleets and Facilities is working with other departments to locate the cache building at the City's Haller Lake and Charles Street facilities, and in interior space at Parks' Westbridge facility. The cache supply list is being finalized with the help of Seattle Police Department Emergency Management staff in order to set the cache building size.

October 2005 -
The City has selected three of the proposed site, and Fleets and Facilities is working with Parks on the preferred site for Magnolia.