Lake Whatcom Water & Sewer District officials will close this week on the former site of the Burger Me restaurant on Lakeway Drive, District Manager Jim Neher said.
The cost of purchasing the building, hiring an architect and renovation will cost a total of about $1.4 million, Neher said. About $1 million of that comes in the purchase price of the building, the district manager said.
The transaction comes nearly a year after the district’s commissioners decided not to go forward with a proposed $6.4 million administration and operations facilities at their current site in the watershed, 1010 Lakeview St, while looking at a potential merger with the city of Bellingham.
The district had already saved up about $1 million in funding for new facilities in previous budgets, Neher said, so customers will not see an increase in their rates. They already saw one at the beginning of the year in order to pay for a bond levy done to replace aging district infrastructure, like pump stations and a new telemetry system. That telemetry system will be at the new administration headquarters, Neher said.
Meanwhile, operations and maintenance workers will continue to work from the district’s old site.
Hey, given their blind support of more and more development in the watershed, they can get by with a very minor modification of the sign on the old restaurant. The new sign should read: BUGGER YOU.