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June 17, 1999
City to buildN. Highlandin 2000Project engineeringto begin this yearBy KREMENA TODOROVA Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM - The City Council Tuesday agreed to postpone construction of a North Highland Avenue extension until 2000, to ensure enough "quality time" for the project. However, survey and design work will begin in 1999, with the Council starting the legal process to issue $200,000 in bonds to this end. Consideration of the 1.5-mile project on the city's north end was suggested by Councilor Clark Tuttle earlier this month, after the 1999 street works contract came in $345,000 under original estimates. The project was originally slated for 2000. Opening up the street is considered essential to city plans to encourage housing growth in the area, one of New Ulm's potential prime development sites. It is expected to help ease a chronic housing crunch in the city. But city officials said Tuesday that tackling the project in 1999 would only allow for a temporary gravel road, 30-feet wide and six inches deep. "Grading, storm sewer culverts and lights would be minimized to reduce costs," said City Manager Richard Salvati. This road would be incompatible with a future road and would require "extensive excavations" to accommodate future utilities. Officials also said that city engineers and surveyors are currently fully engaged in a busy construction season and would be unable to give the project enough "quality time." Projects such as Center Street, Harman Park, a new signal system near the Target development at 20th South, German Park construction, a baseball facility at the former Artstone site and others are taking up the available staff time. "What concerns me most is that $200,000 would only buy us something that in two years would be lost," Council President Dan Beranek said. "It would certainly allow traffic to flow through and expose the area to potential developers and construction. But it seems to me we ought to take this step-by-step. [...] [Getting a permanent road] looks like a smarter way to spend money." But Tuttle renewed his appeal for a more aggressive approach to development in the area. "It's been some time since the Council met with city staff and the Public Utilities Commission [on the issue]," he said. "I would like to see a working session on how we intend to proceed, what needs to be done to spur development. Frankly, I am in the dark." The Council also agreed to attempt to recruit engineers Bolton and Menk to take part in designing the road. B&M have helped determine its alignment and analyzed the capacity and limitations of earlier utilities. In other action, the Council: * Approved the sale of $1.6 million worth of bonds to fund street projects in 1999. This includes $200,000 that can be used to fund work on North Highland, or carried forward for the purpose. The bonds are "structured to enhance the marketability" of city debt, said city consultant Jeanne Frederick Vanda, of Public Financial Management. * Approved an extra $6,700 spending on the restoration of Hermann Monument, a $700,000-plus project. The change was necessitated by unexpected deterioration revealed after removing floors in a section of the monument's base. * Granted a liquor license to the Holiday Inn, ending a month's deadlock. The license was previously denied, after city officials said the Holiday Inn had failed to comply with an agreement to repair a driveway into its lot. New owner Thomas Torgerson agreed to complete the repairs by June 21. According to City Engineer Steve Koehler, the arrangement is satisfactory to the city, and there is evidence that the repairs have started. * Voted to install sidewalks on small sections of German, North Garden and 17th North streets. Councilors said owners' concerns about preserving trees on South German (between 7th and 12th South) will be accommodated, while sidewalk installation on 17th North (between Minnesota and Broadway) will be delayed, until it is more clear how the area will be impacted by Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad expansion. The installation of sidewalks in another area, on 21st Street North (across from American Artstone), will be delayed because of possible construction on an adjacent extensive tract of industrial land.
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