Project still slated to begin in late May
The Aurora City Council approved an amendment to the 1st Street improvement project plan last week which will in effect provide a back-door exit to residents along 1st Street once construction begins.
JEO Consulting Group’s Andrew Wilshusen explained to city leaders that the need for an alternate route during the construction period has been brought up several times since the project was announced, leading to the latest change. As it stands, residents living west of 1st Street would have limited options for getting to and from their homes during certain phases of construction, part one of which is scheduled to begin in late May of this year.
“In discussion with contractors, internally, we talked about extending the Grant Street entrance on the south side of the highway to see if we could tie that into this subdivision,” Wilshusen told the council during its March 26 meeting. “There would be a lot of benefits to do this while we are doing construction of 1st Street as this would provide an outlet during construction to help eliminate any inconvenience throughout the construction project.”
The proposed amendment involved the sanitary sewer, water main, storm sewer and paving improvements in the Streeter Subdivision from the intersection of Highlander Lane and Matson Street to the Grand Street intersection on Highway 34.
In addition to changes along that route, Wilshusen said the revised proposal included another loop in the water main.
“If something would happen while installing the water main, this would allow another source,” he explained. “Our plan is to put out an addendum to notify contractors that this would be added to the project.”
The 1st Street project has already been put out to bid, he noted, so providing this information to contractors who expressed interest in submitting a bid would eliminate the need, and time, to put the project out for bid a second time. JEO’s initial estimate for the project, before the amendments were approved, was $5.6 million.
After brief discussion, the council approved the $49,800 project amendment, which covered engineering, project management and a topographic survey, by unanimous vote.
The council also approved two ordinances by unanimous vote which reflected changes dictated by a new state law. City Attorney Ross Luzum explained that LB 531 required a change in city ordinances to allow the mayor to vote to break a tie or to achieve a majority, which he said would likely happen in Aurora on rare occasion.
In other action, the council:
* heard a review of the city’s audit from Michael Hoback of AMGL, P.C. (See related story in this week’s edition);
* approved location for all-inclusive playground on city-owned property after hearing a report from playground committee (See related story in this week’s edition);
* approved a resolution accepting the blighted and substandard area analysis presented at the March 12 meeting;
* approved the plans and specifications for the Mission Critical storm sewer and grading;
* approved projects proposed by Mulligan Man, 1305 K St., (a new commercial door) and The Old Homestead Market & Floral (recovering the existing awning) as part of the Aurora CDBG Downtown Revitalization (DTR) Facade Forgivable Loan Program;
* approved reimbursement for facade improvements on a previously approved DTR project, with the CDBG portion set at $9,373.18 and the owner’s share at $7,159.63;
* approved a payment to the South Central Economic Development District of $3,775 for administrative services between Nov. 1, 2023 and Feb. 29, 2024;
* approved a payment of $2,125 to SCEDD for construction management services during that same period;
* approved draw request No. 4 for CDBG funds in the amount of $15,273.18.