The Carroll City Council voted Monday night to avoid forcing residents impacted by the upcoming Adams Street reconstruction project to replace utility infrastructure against their will. The issue had been brewing for more than a year as city officials worked to determine who would be responsible for replacing water and sanitary sewer service lines after new mains are installed on Adams Street from Highway 30 to 13th Street next year. Under the current city code, property owners are responsible for their lines from the structure to the main, but much of the existing infrastructure, including service lines in the right-of-way, will be torn out during the project. To move forward with the project, the council needed to determine how they would address each aspect of the project, starting with sanitary sewer connections. Ward 3 Councilman Kyle Bauer suggested the city provide funding to extend new lines out from under the street so they can avoid unnecessary cuts into the fresh concrete for repairs in the future.
The council unanimously approved this proposal. They then shifted their focus to water service lines. Public Works Director Randy Krauel says the crux of this issue is a pending Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate to replace lead service lines.
The council took a similar position on water lines as they did with sewer. They voted unanimously to replace lines from the main to the stop box with the option to replace the remainder at the owner’s expense. The council gave Krauel some discretion on replacing recently serviced PVC or copper lines. The next issue was driveway approaches on Adams Street. About five feet of driveway will need to be torn out and replaced at city expense; however, Krauel says some drives no longer meet existing design standards.
The council voted to cover about five feet of driveway replacement but declined to offer a special assessment funding option due to the complexity of acquiring easements for over 60 affected properties. The final issue was sidewalk inspections and replacement in connection to the project. The council determined it may be best for the city to leave sidewalks in the area alone for now.
With these policy decisions now made, staff can move forward with design and cost estimation work. The project is expected to be let sometime in January with construction slated to begin in spring 2023. The council has been working for over a year on this issue, as it will set a precedent for future road reconstruction projects in Carroll for years to come. Video of Monday’s meeting is available below.
