Project engineers seeking input from residents

A public meeting intended to provide an overview of the Absaroka Street Reconstruction Project has been scheduled for Tuesday at City Hall, beginning at 4 p.m.

Representatives from the City of Powell and Engineering Associates will present the preliminary design of the proposed project, as well as answer any questions from the public. Streets Superintendent Gary Butts said property owners on Absaroka Street are especially encouraged to attend.

“We’ll have some diagrams, some displays people can see,” Butts said. “Each individual property owner will have the opportunity to talk to the engineers about their specific property. We may not have all the answers, but we’ll certainly be there to at least start getting the questions they might have answered.”

Park County voters approved the Absaroka Street overhaul in the 2016 general election, when 53 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of a $13.68 million sales tax. The City of Powell is set to receive roughly $4.25 million from the temporary, additional 1 cent sales tax.

Primary construction on the project will take place between Third Street and Seventh Street on Absaroka, though accessory work will likely be required for water flow lines and drainage that tie in between the east and west streets. Work will start at the deepest parts of the water and sewer lines, working up to the storm drainage system.

In addition to a project overview, engineers will also present a preliminary schedule of when different phases of the project are scheduled to occur and what residents can expect.

“Things like utility relocation, we’ll talk about that,” Butts said. “The road reconstruction itself, access issues that might arise due to construction, mail delivery, things of that nature will all be addressed.”

The design of the project will be completed this year, with an eye toward actual construction beginning in October.

“The project will go out to bid in October, so really the big stuff won’t happen until the end of 2018, the beginning of 2019,” Butts explained.

Information and updates will be provided by the City of Powell as the project progresses, though Butts stressed the importance of next week’s meeting as the best opportunity to get questions answered directly.

“This meeting is sort of the big overview, so that people know what’s coming up,” Butts said. “It will answer a lot of the questions that they might have. If people can’t make it there, we will send them information, and we will have updates as often as we can on our website.”

Butts estimated the majority of construction on the project will take place between October 2018 and October 2019. Preliminary work such as tree removal will occur this summer, but the majority of the work will fall into that one-year window.

Butts said much of the concern he’s heard so far about the project deals with potential loss of property during construction. He would like to assure property owners that square footage will not be affected.

“This project will not take any personal property away from owners. All work will be completed within the right-of-ways,” Butts said. “That seems to be the big question so far — will it affect my property?”

As for the trees, for every tree that is removed, “the resident will be able to pick a tree that can be replanted in their yard,” he said.