GLADSTONE — Dozens of people were in attendance at a meeting held by the City of Gladstone and the Gladstone Downtown Development Authority (DDA) on the upcoming 9th and 4th Street Project. The meeting took place at Gladstone American Legion Post 71 Wednesday evening.

“The goal of the meeting is to provide the community with information (on) the scope of work on 9th Street and 4th Street,” City Manager Darcy Long said.

Long said it is a joint project of the DDA and the City of Gladstone. It will include a total reconstruction of 9th Street (including work on storm drains, water lines, and sewer lines), as well as work on 4th Street and Delta Avenue. It is estimated to cost about $3.9 million.

Currently, the project is in the development and design phase. The targeted start date for work on the project is May 2019.

“The goal is to have it completed in the fall of 2019,” Long said of the work on 9th Street.

Work on 4th Street and Delta Avenue will follow a different timeline from the rest of the project.

“(That’s) more of a two-year project,” Long said. This work is expected to begin along with the work on 9th Street in 2019 and to conclude in 2020.

At the end of his project overview, Long provided a look at cost estimates for the projects. The DDA would be able to pay up to $2,462,100 of the costs associated with the project (an amount which would cover bond payments for the project), with the rest coming from multiple city funds and special assessments.

DDA Coordinator Ron Miaso discussed the project’s history. He said it was initially meant to be a smaller-scale project.

“Back in 2016, the DDA really started this project because there were some issues with water in the alleys behind Delta Avenue,” he said.

However, the work they had in mind at this time could not be funded through the DDA’s annual revenue. As a result, the possibility of borrowing money for the project was brought up.

City staff looked into the project and found the DDA would have to increase the project’s scope to be able to bond for it. In response, the work included in the project was expanded.

Last fall, a committee was formed to guide the project.

“It is comprised of members from the DDA (and) from the city commission,” Miaso said.

Public Works Director Mark Polega spoke about how 4th Street and Delta Avenue will be affected by the project. He said this work was originally planned as a separate, smaller project.

“It actually goes back quite a few years … at the time, that was a project to do milling and resurfacing of 4th Street, basically, and just resurface the street,” he said. However, as the city did not receive the funding they applied for to do this work, it was later added to the 9th Street project.

In 2019, sanitary sewers will be replaced as part of the 9th Street project, including about 2,500 linear feet of clay pipe on 4th Street, which was originally installed in the early 1920s. This work is estimated to cost $201,000, which is included in the budget for work on 9th Street.

The following year, 4th Street and about two blocks of Delta Ave. will be milled and resurfaced. Additionally, underlying concrete will be removed when necessary, the Delta Avenue and Railway Avenue intersection will be realigned, and work will be done on barrier-free sidewalk ramps and crosswalks, signage, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks as needed. Striping will also be done as part of this; a bike lane may be added, as well.

Work on 4th Street and Delta Avenue in 2020 is expected to cost $450,000. A $75,000 local match is required for this, and the remainder will be funded through the MDOT Small Urban Program. The maximum grant available is $375,000.

Scott Nowack of Coleman Engineering also spoke during the meeting. His presentation focused on the impact project construction will have on people and businesses in the area, as well as current plans for traffic control.

Nowack said that, if the 4th Street work planned for 2019 is done near the end of work on 9th Street, the former road would be left as gravel through the end of the year.

“We should have a contractor by mid-winter lined up to come and resurface that immediately in the spring of 2020,” he said.

On the topic of traffic control, Nowack noted streets affected by the project may be open to limited local traffic and business access only at times.

“There’s (going to) be times where a lot of these streets are going to be local traffic only,” he said.

A new city street, 2nd Ave., will be introduced as part of the project (pending the acquisition of the right-of-way it would be located on from private property owners), Nowack said.

Nowack shared preliminary plans for traffic staging during the project. These plans were divided into two phases, both of which would include the creation of detours to allow for access to businesses affected by construction.

Nowack also spoke about plans to make 9th Street more accommodating to cyclists.

“One of the big additions we want to make to 9th (Street) is bike lanes,” he said. If the city goes through with this addition, the street would be narrowed and parking may have to be restructured.

Due to the removal of some sidewalks and curbs as part of the project, some larger, older trees in affected areas may have to be removed, as well.

“You start getting into the sidewalk and things, you kill the roots,” Nowack said, noting the project includes funding for tree replacements.

Residential concrete driveways will be adjusted or temporarily removed as a result of project-related work. Some, but not all, driveways for businesses may be permanently removed or reconfigured. Long said the city will work with businesses affected by these changes to ensure that they have sufficient access once the project is completed.

Nowack also spoke about how the project will improve stormwater management for alleyways in the area. He said this was the “driving force” behind the project early on, and that it is still an important part of the project.

“What we want to do is, to the extent practical, re-grade these alleys,” he said. Storm sewers will also be added to alleys, and private business owners in the area will be encouraged to connect to these sewers.

At this point in the meeting, Long returned to speak about how the project is being paid for. He said the DDA and the City of Gladstone are aiming to “pre-pay” for some of the work on the project to minimize the amount of interest they will have to pay back.

“Basically, we’re going to pay for some of this ahead of time, before we borrow for it,” he said. The engineering phase of the project will be paid for before borrowing takes place.

According to the estimates discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, $483,054 of the budget for work on 9th Street and $75,000 of the budget for work on 4th Street remained to be funded. These amounts will be special assessed over 10 and 15 years, respectively.

Long said the DDA’s involvement with the project is crucial to its existence.

“This is a highly subsidized project with the DDA,” he said.

The meeting was opened to questions from members of the public. In response to a question on how the project will impact the intersection of Delta and Railway avenues, Nowack said no design has been finalized for this portion of the project.

“I hesitate to answer that question directly, because there’s not a lot of good answers for how you design a better intersection there,” he said. Several options for this intersection will be considered.

Another question focused on whether aging sewer and water lines from houses to streets will be replaced as part of the project. Long said that — while the contractor for the project will likely not do this work — the city knows which lines to homes are good candidates for replacement and will get in touch with the owners of these homes before construction begins.

“We would notify you ahead of time so that you could line up a contractor to do that,” he said.