MOUNT VERNON — Mayor Richard Mavis said a number of public improvement projects will get under way in 2008, but there are other projects on the administration’s wish list that will probably have to wait.
On Tuesday, City Council met to decide to settle on a 2008 budget and decide which capital improvement projects to fund. Before council got to work, the mayor outlined several proposed projects. By the end of council’s session, it was clear some will be funded, others postponed.
Mavis named four projects he feels confident the city can start. One is the Lowe’s crossover road that will connect Coshocton Avenue and Yauger Road. He said this project should start in late summer or early fall.
The roadway will run along the eastern edges of Lowe’s department store on Coshocton Avenue and Ohio Heritage Bank on Yauger Road. The mayor said the city has the funds for the project earmarked and the preliminary designs in hand. He added that he has been in communication with representatives of both companies and is waiting for a response from Lowe’s on a proposed easement needed for the roadway.
Another project that should get under way this summer is the conversion of South Gay Street from brick to asphalt, Mavis said, an estimated $1.3 million project. One lane of the street will be kept open at all times to accomodate the heavy traffic load — about 10,000 vehicles a day — and the project will not begin until after the Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival. He said the project should last at least six months.
“It should be pointed out that we will be taking out all of the bricks and curbs,” Mavis said.
The mayor added that utility issues must also be addressed. When East Chestnut Street was converted from brick to asphalt in 2006, utility issues were a major concern.
“We don’t want to rebuild the street and then find out later that we have to repair water and sewer lines. That has to be part of the plan,” Mavis said. “We want to make sure these utility lines will last for years to come.”
Mavis said the administration expects to receive about $500,000 in the form of an Ohio Public Works grant, which will not be approved until July. He said the remaining costs will come out of the city capital improvement budget.
The third big 2008 project the mayor named was installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Newark Road (Ohio 13) and Blackjack Road. The project should be put out to bid within two months. The project is estimated to cost $168,000 and entails not only the addition of the signal at the T-intersection, but also the creation of a left-hand turn lane for northbound traffic on Newark Road, as well as alterations to the turn radius of the intersection.
The fourth project the mayor said will happen in 2008 is the rebuilding of a section of Curtis Street that stretches from Main Street to Mulberry Street — a section the administration feels is in the worst shape when looking at all of the brick strees in the city. The project is estimated to cost $175,000. He said the residents of Oak Street, another brick street in need of rebuilding, have expressed their wishes that their street be rebuilt, but the mayor said Oak Street doesn’t carry the heavy traffic load Curtis Street does.
The city will embark on a brick street repair program in the summer. This new pilot project involves hiring temporary workers to do things like putting misplaced bricks back in their proper place, but it differs from a complete rebuild. Mavis said part of the project will involve hammering out concrete patches and filling the holes with new bricks.
Temporary workers will not work on curb repairs or replacements, which must be completed by contractors. Mavis said the street and engineering department will oversee the brick repair program, which should last at least 10 weeks.
“We expect to learn a lot this first time around,” he said. “But the going will be probably be slow.”
The mayor said a big city project not likely to get under way this year is one that includes extending water and wastewater along a stretch of Blackjack Road. Nor will widening the same stretch of roadway occur.
For over a year, a company the mayor has declined to name has expressed interest in building a factory in an area of Blackjack Road, south of Moundbuilders. Mavis said the Ohio Department of Development has expressed a willingness to give the city $400,000 toward the estimated $1.6 million project, for which design plans have been completed. He said it is still uncertain whether the company is willing to make the investment, but, if the company were to make the investment, he said he feels confident the ODOD will still give the city the money.
The land south of the city’s industrial park, on Blackjack Road, is the only undeveloped property left in the city that is zoned for manufacturing.
The mayor said the city may choose to move ahead with the project, even if the industrial developer ultimately decides against the investment, with the reasoning that an undeveloped manufacturing site, with the right infrastructure nearby, would be attractive to a potential industrial developer in the future.
Also among the projects on the city’s wish list that will not probably be funded are improvements to the intersection of Edgewood Road and Ohio 229, which includes widening the intersection and adding additional left-hand turn lanes.
