Work in progress on the Ballinger Maintenance Facility for Shoreline Public Works

Photo by Steven H. Robinson

By Diane Hettrick

Work is currently underway on the Ballinger Maintenance Facility, part of Shoreline's public works facilities.

The site is a long, narrow piece of land which was the site of the Brightwater tunnel access, now closed over and no longer needed by Brightwater. It is located on Ballinger Way NE in the Ballinger business district.

The site was leased to the post office for several years. When the USPS failed to purchase the land where the North City Post Office was located on 15th NE, they were unable to find a similar site for their Shoreline operations.

Site demolition and construction of the back wall were underway in August 2023.
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They split their operations into the retail center at Gateway Plaza at 185th and Aurora, and their processing center to the old Office Max building at Gateway Place in Mountlake Terrace.

They leased the Brightwater Portal land from the City of Shoreline and used it to park their small vans.

Shoreline, in the meantime, needed to expand their maintenance facilities. A proposal to expand their existing facility at Hamlin Park to a consolidated public works facility was met with extreme displeasure from the community and mostly abandoned.

Rather than having all their facilities in one place, the city is using four parcels of land they already own and updating them. 

1. Brightwater Portal property (20031 Ballinger Way NE) - maintenance yard
2. North Maintenance Facility (NMF) (19547 25th Avenue NE) - use some land for parking but add a section to Brugger's Bog Park with Ballinger Creek stream restoration.
3. Ronald Wastewater District (RWD) property (17505 Linden Avenue N) - City's Wastewater and Surface Water Maintenance crews.
4. Hamlin Yard (16006 15th Avenue NE) - plans for a building on the site within 5-8 years

The vehicle washing stations are at the very back. The building to the right is a storage facility. The building to the left is a two-story commercial building. Photo by Steven H. Robinson

The Ballinger Maintenance Facility, currently under construction at 20031 Ballinger Way NE, will generally include:

• An enclosed 950 square-foot single-story building for equipment storage
• Three canopy structures totaling approximately 7,500 square-feet to facilitate: 
• Salt storage and decant street sweepings
• Vehicle washing
• Vehicle fueling
• Site improvements such as new asphalt and concrete