Absaroka Street project: Residents pack City Hall

Posted 2/27/18

Representatives of Engineering Associates and the City of Powell outlined the scope of the project and addressed issues and concerns voiced by residents.

City Streets Superintendent Gary Butts said he was pleased with the turnout and felt the …

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Absaroka Street project: Residents pack City Hall

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About 65 residents filled the Powell City Council chambers Tuesday to learn more and express concerns about the upcoming widening and reconstruction of Absaroka Street.

Representatives of Engineering Associates and the City of Powell outlined the scope of the project and addressed issues and concerns voiced by residents.

City Streets Superintendent Gary Butts said he was pleased with the turnout and felt the meeting helped educate the public about the work.

In addition, “I thought the residents had some good ideas that we’ll be looking at to see how that can help us as the project goes along,” Butts said.

The project is funded by a 1 cent specific purpose sales and use tax approved by Park County voters two years ago. The work will widen Absaroka Street and reconstruct utilities. Benefits, according to the city, will include more parking, better sight windows, improved infrastructure and better lighting. Total reconstruction will occur from Third to Seventh streets, while utility work will take place between First and Third streets. Decorative light poles will be installed throughout the area.

“Right now, we’re still working on the conceptual design,” Travis Conklin, of Engineering Associates told attendees. “By September, we’re hoping to have everything all put together and go out to bid. In October, we’ll be looking to put together the contract. In November, some trees are going to be removed initially.”

Utility replacement is scheduled to begin in December, with actual street construction beginning in March, he said.

“There’s probably going to be some flex in how that gets done, because we’re trying not to tie the hands of the contractors to the point where they end up having to increase their bids significantly,” Conklin explained.

The work is scheduled to be done by January 2020.

One of the more noticeable aspects of the projects will be the removal of some trees: Conklin said there are 107 trees facing Absaroka Street and 21 will need to be removed and then replaced.

Engineering Associates worked with the Powell Tree Board to identify five types of replacement trees: Littleleaf Linden, Bur Oak, American Elm, Honeylocust and Amur Maple — species that won’t clog the city’s curb, gutter and drop inlets.

“When the trees are removed from your yard, you will have the option of having the tree replaced on your property side of the sidewalk, or we will have the contractor provide you with a tree that you can plant somewhere else on your property,” Conklin told residents.

Utilities to be relocated include waterlines and servicelines out to the curb stops; storm drains will be extended all the way down to First Street and an aging buried drain under Fourth Street will be replaced. Streetlights similar to the ones on the north side of Clark Street will also be installed.

“The streetlights will be LED, and will have reflectors, so at night when you’re trying to sleep they won’t be shining through your windows,” Conklin said.

As for the actual road construction, Conklin assured residents the widening would not significantly impact their yards. New curbs and gutters will be built, along with new sidewalks and drive aprons within the right-of-way as needed. New handicap access ramps will also be built.

“You’ll have two 12-foot lanes, with parking on either side,” Conklin explained. “We’re really not changing how the pattern is. We’re going to just be making things a lot nicer, with improved utilities that you won’t have to pay for in your monthly bills.”

Traffic will generally be diverted to Clark and Division streets during the project. Conklin said contractors will be required to provide reasonable accommodations within the construction area, though “there will be times, obviously, when they rip out curb and gutter and sidewalk that people are going to be inconvenienced in front of their house.”

“There’s just no way around that,” he said.

Conklin said one of the lessons learned when reconstructing downtown Thermopolis was the more they limited what contractors could do, the longer the project took. This created, among other things, upset business owners.

“The best way to get a project like this done is to get it done,” Conklin said. “We are going to try to come up with a plan that will facilitate completing it in a reasonably quick manner.”

After Conklin’s presentation, the floor was opened up to questions and comments. While the majority of those gathered seemed on board with the project, it was not without detractors. Absaroka Street resident Mickey Waddell said she felt “blindsided,” questioning why the city didn’t make more of an effort to let residents know that construction was essentially a done deal. Though others in attendance confirmed they’d known about the project since the beginning, Waddell said that information didn’t reach everyone.

“When did the city act on this?” she asked. “You say two years. I never was contacted about this. ... Everyone in Wyoming is worried about the feds; I’m worried about the City of Powell. I’m sorry if I missed something two years ago. I thought I was pretty much up on everything.”

Across the county, 53 percent of voters approved the $13.68 million sales tax in November 2016; in addition to other projects in Cody, Meeteetse and rural Park County, the temporary 1 cent tax calls for raising $4.25 million for Absaroka Street.

“All of a sudden you say, ‘Well, because you voted on the 1 cent sales tax, you voted for a mandate,’” Waddell said. “I didn’t vote for it. And I don’t think that was fair for the rest of the county to say ‘OK, go ahead and take out Absaroka Street.’”

Conklin said it was made clear at the time of the vote that funds would be used to reconstruct Absaroka Street.

“There was information out there ahead of time,” he explained. “I don’t know all of the details of what was in the newspaper.”

Conklin added that much of the work has been planned for a long time.

“A lot of the utility work that’s going in here needs to be done anyway,” he said. “That cast iron pipe that’s out there is on the edge of going any day. It’s going to be a lot more cost-effective to get it done as part of this [reconstruction project] than to have to raise utility rates to dig that up in 10 years when it blows up and you’re digging it up a half a block at a time.”

Despite her misgivings on the project, Waddell said there were some positives she took away from last week’s meeting.

“I do give them a positive on the sidewalk replacement; you gotta take what you can get,” she said later. “I’m happy because my sidewalk is in terrible shape.”

However, Waddell felt there were several issues not satisfactorily addressed — namely, “they didn’t have any answers with the traffic picking up speed” on the widened street, she said.

Absaroka Street resident William Smith shared that concern.

“They’re already doing 40 or 50 miles an hour,” Smith said of drivers. “I’m half a block from the stop sign between Third Street and Fourth Street, and they’re doing 50 mph there. Police never even sit there; I’ve called them before to let them know they’re speeding down there.”

Several attendees also brought up the issue of property values, concerned the numbers would drop. Conklin said the opposite would most likely be the case.

“... When you get done replacing all of the infrastructure and the sidewalk and the curb and gutters, and beautifying it with new streetlights, the property values will actually go up,” he said. “You won’t lose any usable square footage on your property.”

Waddell disagreed.

“They’re not going to go up when they take out that many trees,” she said.

The trees were also an issue for Smith, as a couple of the trees slotted for removal are on his property.

“Look down that street on a nice spring or fall day, it’s the most beautiful drive in the town of Powell. All them nice big trees hanging over the street,” he said. “And you’re going to destroy that.”

One attendee asked if an environmental impact study had been conducted regarding migratory birds that nest in the trees on Absaroka.

“We’re starting construction in the fall, so the migratory birds will be out of there when we take the trees down,” Conklin said. “We’ll replant those trees as soon as possible. This isn’t a federal project, so it’s not required to have an environmental impact statement.”

“Well, that’s pathetic,” the resident said. “That is disgusting, that’s irresponsible and it’s wrong.”

The meeting concluded on a moment of levity, as a resident asked about a hedge on his property that’s scheduled to be removed.

“Is there any chance of getting a white picket fence put there instead of that damn hedge?” he quipped.

With it being on the resident’s property, “the answer would be yes, you can do it,” Butts said. “The city won’t pay for it.”

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