During a workshop last week, the Carroll City Council discussed special assessments and how these could be used as an additional funding mechanism for the proposed $3 to $4 million reconstruction on a portion of Adams Street. Assessments would allow the city to apportion some of the expense to homeowners living along the construction route. The premise is that the homeowners benefit from not only the road improvements, but also from any upgrades made to city utilities during construction. As the council continues to research this option, Director of Public Works, Randy Krauel, says other decisions will need to be researched, reviewed and decided on prior to the start of construction.
The same scoping will be done with sanitary sewer service lines and a recommendation on whether to replace them or not will be made. Krauel points out that in current city code, service lines are the property owner’s responsibility.
Another item to be looked at will be storm sewer replacement.
Water mains and service lines will also be reviewed and the council will need to make a similar decision on replacement.
Krauel says of the roughly 55 service lines in this project, about 24 they know for certain are lead. The water lines, however, typically do not run under the roadway but are adjacent. Replacement would not require breaking into a new surface as long as the main is not under the road, but would still be easier to do while they are already uncovered. The typical material used for Carroll streets is concrete, which would provide some additional options to homeowners.
Another consideration is trees that are in the right of way and too close to the curb. These may have to be removed to facilitate work and for road clearance considerations. Krauel adds that the city could look at ash tree removal in those areas as well. The discussions on the options will continue at future meetings, but full audio on this topic and the special assessment can be found below.
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Click on play arrow to hear full audio of special assessment, sewer and water line replacement discussions:
