The Sweet Home City Council approved several street projects and changes to parking throughout the community during its regular meeting on Sept. 22.
Among its decisions, it approved four street overlay paving projects, including 1,800 feet of 47th Avenue between Highway 20 and Airport Road; 2,000 feet of 49th Avenue between Highway 20 and Airport Road; 2,400 feet of First Avenue between Highway 20 and Hawthorne Street; and 500 feet of Hawthorne Street between First and Third avenues.
The council awarded a contract to Eugene Sand Construction for $268,500.95 plus a 10-percent contingency. The funds were included in the 2009-10 budget. Eugene Sand was the low bidder. Also bidding were Knife River, R.L. Houck Construction,
North Santiam Paving and Kerr Contractors. R.L. Houck was the high bidder at $340,763.70.
The council also approved a contract with Reece & Associates, Inc., for $25,300 to complete engineering design and bidding services for improvements to Juniper Street and 32nd Court.
Residents of those unimproved street sections, formally known as Hawthorne Way, south of Hawthorne School, have long been interested in improving the street, Public Works Director Mike Adams said. The residents showed an interest in learning more about potential costs for the improvements, and the city decided to issue a request for proposals.
Once the designs are defined, the final construction costs can be identified for each individual property owner if they are interested in moving forward with a local improvement district process, Adams said. Even if the improvements are not completed at this time, the plan coming from this process can be a starting point for any future discussion with local residents.
Funds for the project were included in the 2009-10 budget.
Elsewhere, the council decided to relax parking restrictions on 13th Avenue between Long and Main streets, decreasing the no-parking zone on the west side of 13th Avenue by five feet at Main Street and the east side by eight feet at Main Street.
The change provides one additional parking space on each side of the street.
Senior Engineering Technician Joe Graybill talked to staff members of other cities and learned that they typically allow parking to intrude into a 20-feet no-parking zone mandated by the state.
When the street was striped for parking, Graybill said, the spaces were stretched a little longer because the street was limited by the no-parking zone. The additional spaces were not large enough to accommodate a full space without intruding into the no-parking zone.
The new spaces will be tucked in by the bulb-outs at the intersection, Graybill said.
“This is an adjustment of what I believe to be a successful program to mark parking spaces,” City Manager Craig Martin said.
The city has had good feedback about the program, he said, and people are parking within the marks added within the last year.
In the past, parked cars could take up two or even three parking slots worth of space, Martin said.
The council agreed also to remove parking restrictions on the east side of First Avenue.
First Avenue has been the subject of an experiment to slow traffic running between Highway 228 and Highway 20. The experiment created narrow lanes with bike lanes and no parking on the east side to tighten the space and influence drivers to slow down. Parking was allowed on the west side.
Graybill told the council that allowing parking on the east side would narrow traffic lanes and force oncoming vehicles to queue up and wait, generally slowing traffic down. The plan would create a weaving pattern on the street instead of a straight line from highway to highway.
Councilor Greg Mahler said he was concerned that parking on the east side, which already has sight obstructions, such as trees and hedges, would add more sight problems for drivers backing out onto the street.
“The visibility is going to get worse,” said Mahler, who is a volunteer firefighter, and the narrower lanes could cause problems for ambulances and other emergency vehicles using the street. First Avenue is often used by ambulances traveling from Highway 228 to Highway 20 to get to the hospital.
“When we met with the neighbors on the street, they had all kinds of ideas,” Police Chief Bob Burford said. A dead end was the preferred choice. “They really want it to be a residential street. It was never designed as a cut across.”
Burford thought the parking might provide a buffer for sight-obstructed driveways, but Mahler noted that the cars would have to roll further into the street, between parked cars, before entering traffic.
Mayor Craig Fentiman said the council could revisit the issue in a year, and the council voted unanimously to allow parking on the east side of First Avenue.
Attending the meeting were councilors Laure Fowler, Jim Bean, Jim Gourley, Mahler and Fentiman. Eric Markell and Scott McKee Jr. were absent.
In other business, the council:
Approved the extension of an 8-inch waterline by Pacific Excavation along 54th Avenue for $81,552 plus a 10-percent contingency.
As part of an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to transmit water from Foster Lake to the new water treatment plant, the city is required to provide city water to the Corps facilities at the base of Foster Dam, Adams said. The line will serve the Corps facility and allow the corps to decommission its existing ground water well, which has ongoing operational problems and is unreliable for its use.
Funds for the project are included in the 2009-10 budget.
Approved an ordinance vacating right-of-way on 54th Avenue, 55th Avenue, Larch Street and Locust Street in the Foster area.
Appointed high school senior Jill Mahler, junior Megan Sanderson and freshman Elric Benson to the Youth Advisory Council. Remaining positions include sophomore, high school at large, seventh grade, eighth grade, junior high at large and three at-large positions open to any youth.
For information or to apply contact the city manager’s office at 367-8969.