Among the bills introduced at Monday night's Jefferson City Council meeting was one authorizing $130,365 for a contract with Concrete Solution LLC for a sidewalk project on Broadway Street.
This project would construct a sidewalk in the eastern side of the 900 block of Broadway Street, the only section of Broadway without a sidewalk, city officials said. One block from South Elementary School, the area is the path to and from school for a number of students.
City officials said the area is treacherous for pedestrians due to the sharply crested hill that creates very short sight distances over its peak. By providing a continuous sidewalk on the eastern side of the street, the need for pedestrians to cross the street to reach a sidewalk should be eliminated.
Funding for this project will come from the public improvements category within the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Funds remain in the CDBG accounts to cover potential project overruns.
Earlier this month, the Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning proposal for a new preschool and skilled nursing facility, which would be designed to serve hospice patients.
A bill to approve the rezoning was introduced Monday to the City Council, and a public hearing is scheduled for the June 19 council meeting.
The request was filed by property owners Debra and Ralph Rankin for rezoning of 3.25 acres from RS-2 Single Family Residential to Planned Unit Development to redevelop the property (PUD) on the west side of Vieth Drive, just north of Colonial Hills Road.
Cindy Juckette has entered a contract to purchase the property from the Rankins. She is part owner of Jefferson City Manor Skilled Nursing, located north of the property. Juckette said she wanted the close proximity of the preschool and nursing facility to allow the children to interact with the nursing home residents.
A preliminary PUD plan, which includes a maintenance facility to go along with the other two buildings, was approved unanimously by the Planning and Zoning Commission and is awaiting council approval.
The plan calls for demolishing two existing single-family houses to construct the 6,500-square-foot preschool on the south side of the property, the 8,000-square-foot skilled nursing facility on the east side of the property near Vieth Drive and the 1,800-square-foot maintenance building west of the nursing facility. All of the buildings would be single-story with a wood frame.
The properties were annexed into the city in 1968 and since then have been zoned for single-family residential use, which doesn't allow for a skilled nursing facility or preschool.
Some residents feel allowing the rezoning will add to the heavy traffic already on the street. They also said there is no need for another nursing home in the area.
Also introduced Monday night were two bills to pay for the addition of three new systems transit officials believe will make the city bus system much more simple and more friendly to navigate. It would be similar to how folks now use their phones or GPS to plan trips and get turn-by-turn directions in a personal vehicle.
The new systems in the process of procurement include Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Automatic Passenger Counters (APC) and Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA).
Transit Director Mark Mehmert said an enhanced AVL system would enable JeffTran riders to see where the buses are within a three-second lag time; plan trips using a desktop, notebook, tablet or mobile app; and determine when a bus will arrive at any bus stop using a simple texting function.
APC would enable JeffTran administrators to determine where and how many riders are boarding and getting off buses, which could allow for better management of the transit system as well as provide for a smoother reporting mechanism to the National Transit Database.
AVA would enable JeffTran riders with sight issues to hear clear, automatic announcements of arriving and upcoming stops. Since signage is also part of this new capacity, JeffTran riders with hearing issues will be able to read announcements.
Also introduced Monday night was a bill setting up a grant agreement with MoDOT for a traffic study of the Clark Avenue corridor and interchange. This would allow the city to use Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds to complete the study and conceptual layout of improvements to the corridor and the interchange with U.S. 50/63.
The current Capital Improvement Sales Tax lists Clark Avenue improvements among the projects to be undertaken. When STP funds became available, the city secured $93,658 in available funds, which will require a 20 percent local match ($18,731) to be taken from the Cooperative City/County Projects portion of the half-cent capital improvement sales tax. It is anticipated that Cole County will participate in this project and provide half of the required match.