The $2.6 million project would retain rural design and more
By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
After hearing about a feasibility study conducted on the Green Acres and Oakwood subdivision roadways, the City of Elkhorn Common Council voted unanimously in favor of a task order that will allow Kapur to begin the engineering process of designing an estimated $2.67 million roadway project for the subdivisions.
City Engineer Mike Timmers said Kapur and Associates completed a study in that area and came up with a couple of options, both of which focus on keeping the roads the same width, maintaining the rural design, removing the asphalt and making the ditches work better to help move storm water.
Timmers said the firm came up with two options for repairing the roads in the Green Acres and Oakwood area, the first being to pulverizing the current asphalt, leaving it in place as an addition to the base and adding 4 inches over the top. The second option, he said, would be to remove the current asphalt completely, as well as 8 inches below that, and then put new gravel and asphalt down.
According to Timmers, Kapur recommended going with the second option because while it would be slightly more expensive there’s much less risk because depending on what they find if they pulverized the road with the first option, it could include more excavating, which tends to be very costly.
“We estimated 50% of the roadway that we would have a problem with below that subgrade,” Timmers said. “It could easily go above that, and that’s where big costs come in with excavating and the base course needed to fill that excavation. So, weighing the risks, option 2 is a lot less risky.”
Timmers also noted that option 1 would raise the road, meaning some driveways might end up being a little steep or have a slight backpitch. However, he said, this wouldn’t be the case with option 2.
“By removing all, we can tie in wherever we want, so basically right back to where they were or improving, whereas it’s a little trickier with the pulverize option as you’re raising the road up usually about 4 inches,” Timmers said.
According to documents from Kapur included in the council packet, the estimated cost for option 1 would be about $2.5 million, while the estimated cost for option 2 would be $2.67 million, a difference of roughly $150,000.
Sump pump connection
Timmers said they don’t have the full design yet and plan on potentially replacing any storm sewer that’s out there as well as adding storm sewer where needed. However, the big addition, he said, would be an underdrain system to which residents would connect their sump pumps to carry water away to a location that will be determined in the design phase of the project.
“The ditches will take the storm water, as they do now, and the pipe is meant for the sump pumps of each house so that they can dump somewhere,” he said. “We understand there’s a lot of sump pumps going a lot of the time. That will help in that regard.”
Under city ordinances, residents of the subdivisions will be required to connect their sump pumps to the underdrain system.
City Administrator James Heilman said the city is working on a plan to make either the project contractor or a separate contractor available to handle sump pump connections, as well as setting up low-interest loans for residents to help cover the cost of connecting their sump pumps to the drainage system.
“Not everyone’s got extra cash laying around,” Heilman said. “We can accomplish what’s good for them and the city in the long term, and we’ll charge the interest that we’re paying.”
Heilman also said residents can choose to connect their sump pumps to the underdrain themselves, if they’re capable and interested in doing so.
“If people want to do it on their own, that’s fine, but it is required by the ordinance and if you do it on your own, we will be enforcing it,” he said. “If you’d like some assistance and to do it while the project’s being done, hopefully we can do that, too. We’re working on that.”
As for the cost of the project, Heilman said the estimate is about $250,000 more than what was originally budgeted.
“We do our best, but sometimes you go out there and you get the reality, and we’re only going to do it right; we’re not going to do it for the number,” Heilman said. “I wouldn’t do it any other way than what’s being proposed, because that’s the right way to do it.”
Alderman Frank Boggs, who represents the subdivisions affected, said based on his discussions with constituents they would vote for the second option if they had the chance to vote on the project themselves.
A motion by Alderman Scott McClory, seconded by Boggs, to approve a $107,963 task order that directs Kapur to move forward with the project and begin the engineering process for the second option was approved by the council by a 5-0 vote.
The task order and project will also include the Pines subdivision project, with the goal being to design and bid the project together with the hopes of attracting more contractors and potentially better bid prices for the projects.
Public meetings
Heilman said he plans to hold several meetings to help educate residents of the subdivisions about the project, a large part of which will be concerning the costs of connecting sump pumps to the drainage system.
He said the meetings would be an opportunity for the city to pass information along to residents on what the council has decided, what will be expected of them as part of the project and what options will be available to them.
“We’ll make as many meetings as we need. I think it’s important because we want everyone to understand what we’re doing; we want them to understand the sump pump, the connection, the availability maybe to contract with us, the availability for low-interest loans at the interest we borrow it,” Heilman said.
“We want them to understand all that, and understand that the ordinance requires them to hook up,” he added.
Heilman said the city has taken residents’ concerns into account during discussions about the project – mainly maintaining the rural road design by not widening it or adding curb and gutter – while also determining a way to move storm water and sump pump water as a part of the project.
“It’s going to be conveying what you’ve decided,” Heilman said. “That’s all I’m doing, so they know what you’ve decided and they know what’s expected.”
