Sep. 20—Blue Earth County is finding that identifying a site for a new public works facility is no easy task.

After spending months studying several sites just south of Mankato, the County Board had settled on a location just outside the southwest edge of Mankato along Stoltzman Road.

But in late August the county dropped the plan after hearing numerous complaints from neighbors about possible traffic and safety concerns as well as worries about noise and smells.

On Tuesday, county commissioners got an update on more possible sites during a workshop.

But commissioners saw a host of potential problems and deal-killers with many of the sites.

Still, the board settled on a few of their favored locations and asked county staff to do more investigation about their potential, as well as talking with Mankato about the possible sites, which are either in the city limits or would have to be annexed to the city.

A favored site appeared to be just southeast of Mankato, east of County Road 12 and north of Highway 83.

While it is a big enough parcel at more than 30 acres and would offer good access for a county shop where large trucks would be entering and exiting, commissioners foresaw neighborhood opposition similar to their first choice.

"There's housing going in all over there and more coming," Commissioner Vance Stuehrenberg said.

Commissioners were also interested in a site south of Madison Avenue between Carver Road and County Road 12, near the Blue Earth County Justice Center campus.

The board also wants to look more at a potential site near the new truck stop on County Road 12 on the east edge of Mankato.

County Administrator Bob Meyer said he also has had very preliminary talks with Eagle Lake and Good Thunder about locating a facility on the edge of their communities.

He said Good Thunder voiced interest in a project that would be annexed into the community, but would likely need to upgrade its water and sewer systems to accommodate it. Stuehrenberg said there could be a problem with getting the volume of water and water pressure a county shop would need to wash all its trucks and to provide fire suppression.

Commissioner Kip Bruender said he'd need to learn more from the public works department about the potential drawbacks to having a shop located a distance from Mankato.

Meyer said Eagle Lake did not appear interested in annexing land that would host a county public works building, but might be interested in extending city sewer and water to a facility, at the county's expense.

County staff presented a few more possible sites to the board, including some north of Highway 14 on the edge of Mankato. But commissioners and public works staff said the sites had a variety of challenges, including needing to be rezoned by the city and difficulties with access. And some of the sites would require the county to buy land from multiple property owners. Another had wetlands on them that would be problematic for construction.

The eventual cost of the project is also increasingly uncertain as construction costs have skyrocketed since earlier design plans were made.

The main building in the new public works facility would be about 90,000 square feet, plus another unheated storage building.

A feasibility study the county did last year had the estimated "all in" project cost of the project at about $26 million, with the building construction costs estimated at $20 million. With rising construction and land costs, those numbers will certainly be much higher when the county settles on a final location and construction timeline.

The county has for the past few years been looking at a new facility to replace the nearly 50-year-old shop on Map Drive, just off Stadium Road east of Minnesota State University. The facility is overcrowded, can't be expanded, and access for the big equipment going in and out is difficult on the busy Stadium Road.