The Cole County Commission has approved two measures to keep work progressing on two stormwater improvement projects.
At their meeting Tuesday, commissioners approved a supplemental agreement of $19,517 for more design work on stormwater and street improvements in the Meadowbrook Estates Subdivision and Courtyard Drive.
The commission approved the initial design contract with Bartlett & West in December for more than $86,000 for the design and engineering work to be completed by the end of the year. Actual work on the project won't begin until 2018.
Heavy rains in August 2016 caused flooding across the area, and getting a jump on design work will help get construction started faster, public works officials said.
The project is estimated to cost $1.6 million and would include stormwater repairs, curb and gutter work, and street and pavement work. The majority of costs would be covered by the county's half-cent improvement sales tax.
Stormwater problems have increased locally over the past year. Possible causes include rainfall exceeding the design of pavement and pipes; debris clogging pipes or inlets, with the first heavy rain of spring flushing debris from fall and winter; and bottom floor elevations of some basements being too low, in close proximity to creeks and/or below the low point of a road.
A new stormwater project will be on South Brooks Drive in three locations: Collier Lane/Collier Court, Shady Lane and Bradley Drive. This area had flooding problems this past spring.
At Tuesday's meeting, the commission approved a design contract with Bartlett & West for $26,089 on this project. Public works officials said many of the pipes in the area are undersized. They were installed in the 1970s and 1980s and need to be replaced with more modern piping that can last longer. Once the design work is done, public works officials will have a better idea of how soon construction can begin.
Also Tuesday, the commission approved a final change order to close out work on the Randall Drive Neighborhood Improvement District. The $15,361 order covered things like additional pipe and concrete work, bringing the total cost to $303,938 with the work done by Stockman Construction.
The commission approved the project in May by a 2-1 vote, as some area residents were not in favor of the project.
State statute allows for creation of a neighborhood improvement district to fund improvements in neighborhoods not up to county code, with the goal of incorporating them into the county road system to be maintained by the county.
The NID in the 3700 block of Randall Drive has a 20-year lifespan, starting when construction is complete. Landowners in the district will have the option to pay off their portion of the costs - determined in proportion to the size of their property - 30 days after the work is finished or have it go on their tax bill as a lien.
Interested property owners filed a petition with the commission last June to form the NID, which includes Randall Woods Condominiums and Kirkweg Estates. The estimated cost of the improvements was $562,500, but the engineers' estimate came in at $358,634.
Other than $40,000 for engineering work, no county tax dollars are being used.
This work is above and beyond what the county normally would do on road projects not in the county road system.
Public Works officials said the original developers built the street as a private development with no county maintenance.
Owners of several apartment complexes in this area decided they wanted the street under county maintenance, so they voted to establish the NID to build the project and pay for it by property tax assessment. However, some property owners said the district was not organized fairly - with property owners outside the district and through travelers perhaps benefiting as much or more than those in the district from the street improvements.
Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman and Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle voted in favor of the NID, saying if they didn't act at that time it probably would never happen.
Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher voted against the NID, saying while it was good to get the street in the system, he didn't like the NID because they always have to deal with different ideas on how much should be paid by whom.