News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
A3
South Canyon Boulevard sidewalk may not get built
Costs have
doubled for a
much smaller
project
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Plans to build a sidewalk
along South Canyon Boule-
vard connecting Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School
to downtown John Day side-
walks may have run into an
insurmountable financial hur-
dle.
When the John Day City
Council initially considered
the project, they were hoping
to construct a sidewalk from
Fourth Avenue to the high
school for about $840,000,
City Manager Nick Green
told the Eagle.
“Where we stand now,
we’re getting half of that area
in sidewalk for more than
double the cost,” he said.
The city was awarded a
Multimodal Transportation
Enhancement Program grant
and a Special City Allotment
grant that would partially
fund the project, and the city
council approved a design al-
ternative on June 13, 2017 —
a shorter project from Sixth
Avenue to the high school.
The council chose a $1.34
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
The John Day City Council may walk away from plans
to build a sidewalk along South Canyon Boulevard from
Sixth Avenue to Grant Union Junior-Senior High School
because of skyrocketing costs.
million option that featured a
6-inch offset curb and a 13.5-
inch swale between the curb
and sidewalk for drainage.
Bids were expected in 2018
with construction by 2019.
But the cost of the project
increased significantly after
the Oregon Department of
Transportation settled a $23
million lawsuit related to the
Americans with Disabilities
Act. The settlement approved
by a federal judge in March
2017 committed ODOT to
creating an audit of all cross-
ings on state highways, com-
pleting curb ramp upgrades
at 30 percent of the locations
by the end of 2022, complet-
ing upgrades at 75 percent by
the end of 2027 and fixing all
of the curb ramp locations by
December 31, 2032.
The audit, completed
about a month ago, rated
only 3 percent of the curb
ramps on state highways as
“good.” Some were rated
“fair,” but most of the rest
were rated “poor.” In Grant
County, every curb ramp was
rated “poor,” and many had
no ramp of any kind. ODOT
Although the city of John
Day was awarded funding
for a sidewalk along South
Canyon Boulevard, the
cost of the project has
increased to the point it
may not longer be a viable
option.
Region 5 Public Information
Officer Tom Strandberg said
the agency has been fixing
curb ramps as it completes
other work.
ODOT
Transportation
Project Leader Sean Malo-
ney presented updated costs
to the city council over the
phone at their Feb. 13 meet-
ing. He had been able to lo-
cate $230,000 in additional
funding from ODOT’s Side-
walk Improvement Program,
which brought the total fund-
ing available to just over $1
million, he said.
But that was only enough
for Phase 1 work — com-
pleting the preliminary engi-
neering and design, acquiring
all needed rights-of-way,
relocating and replacing a
shallow city water main and
providing for contingency
funding.
Funding for Phase 2 —
the actual construction of
the sidewalk and swales —
would include leftover mon-
ey from Phase 1 along with
funding from the Safe Routes
to School program that has
not yet been awarded. Malo-
ney said the city could apply
for the Safe Routes to School
funding this year, and if it
was awarded early enough in
2019, construction could start
that summer. Otherwise, con-
struction would be delayed to
summer 2020, he said.
Councilor Steve Schuette
expressed concerns about
tearing out old sidewalks to
replace the water line and
then leaving exposed con-
struction work. Maloney said
there wasn’t much sidewalk
there to begin with, but he
noted that provisions would
need to be taken to comply
with ADA requirements.
Costs had gotten out of
hand, Councilor Dave Hol-
land noted. Several council-
ors asked about what it would
cost to back out of the proj-
ect, and Mayor Ron Lund-
bom asked whether many
schoolchildren walked along
that section of the highway.
Former councilor Lisa
Weigum spoke up, noting that
schoolchildren went to get
pizza for lunch and that the
wrestling team ran along that
section of the road.
The council reached con-
sensus that the city should
approach Grant County about
helping fund the project. They
also directed Maloney to con-
tinue planning for the project
in the meantime.
Green told the Eagle the
next day that several council-
ors had approached him after
the meeting with their con-
cerns about the project’s cost.
“They asked me to get
back to ODOT to see what
our buy-out provision is and
what it would cost to cancel
the project,” Green said.
The city may have to walk
away from the project, he
said.
“I’m going to work with
the school district over the
next couple weeks, and we
will put this on the agenda for
our Feb. 27 meeting to discuss
again,” Green said.
But he was not optimistic.
“I think there’s a pretty
good chance these sidewalks
are not going to be built,”
Green said.
———
EO Media Group reporter
Jade McDowell contributed
to this report.
John Day Innovation Gateway project moving forward
Blue Mountain Eagle
A poor return rate for a
community income survey of
sewer customers in John Day
and Canyon City was the only
setback cited in City Manager
Nick Green’s update on the
Innovation Gateway project
at the city council’s Feb. 13
meeting.
Survey information will
be used to determine if the
community is eligible for a
federal Community Devel-
opment Block Grant that will
help pay for a new wastewater
treatment plant that will serve
the two cities located at the
former Oregon Pine property
the city purchased in 2017.
Only 23 percent of surveys
sent to 312 randomly selected
customers had been returned,
and the city needed a 90 per-
cent response rate, Green
reported. Volunteers will be
sent out this month to contact
households that have not re-
sponded, he said.
The city will need to bud-
get a $27,000 cash match for
a $200,000 state Transpor-
tation Growth Management
grant for planning and design
of the project. On Jan. 16, the
city invited Grant County to
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
John Day city staff will solicit bids to side and paint
the former Oregon Pine sawmill building that the city
acquired last year as part of the Innovation Gateway
project.
a hearing on the resolution.
Under the design-build
method, one party provides
both design and construction
services, which is common
among greenhouse compa-
nies and will deliver “a better
overall value to their clients,”
Green told the council.
According to findings
in support of the resolu-
tion, the city has budgeted
$400,000 to build and equip
a 5,500-square-foot green-
house, including hydroponic
systems, grow lights, mechan-
ical systems, HVAC, “fertiga-
tion” and related equipment.
Projected operating costs for
the greenhouse are $150,000
per year, the findings say.
In other city council news:
• Mayor Ron Lundbom
recognized in a proclamation
the lifetime achievements
of Donn Willey, who passed
away Jan. 25. Willey served
as a city councilor for nine
years and “was a friend, men-
tor, advisor and colleague of
city councilors and city staff
both past and present,” Lund-
bom said.
• The council unanimous-
ly approved providing the
$4,945 in supplemental mar-
ijuana tax from 2017 to the
Community Health Needs
Assessment Substance Abuse
Committee to support educa-
tion on substance abuse is-
sues.
The city received a request
for the money from Blue
Mountain Hospital District
CEO Derek Daly in a Jan. 9
letter. Green has served as the
chairman of the committee
since January 2017.
Expressing his concerns
about the failure of past sub-
stance abuse efforts in the
area, Councilor Gregg Haber-
ly asked for more information
about how the money would
be used.
Others on the council also
expressed their concerns be-
fore agreeing to make a one-
time payment for the request-
ed amount from the city’s
Community Development
Investment Fund in this fiscal
year and then replenishing
the fund in the next year’s
budget.
A similar request for mar-
ijuana tax revenue was made
to the Grant County Court,
but the item was removed
from the Feb. 14 agenda.
• The council approved a
schedule for the fiscal year
2018-2019 budget process
and appointed Green to serve
as the city’s budget officer.
Final budget proposals will
be discussed during a March
5 staff meeting, and the pro-
posed budget packet will
go to the budget committee
April 13. The council will
hold a public hearing on the
proposed budget May 22 and
adopt the final budget June
12.
• The city’s Annual Public
Safety Report/Briefing will be
presented at the council’s Feb.
27 meeting. The State of the
City address will be present-
ed at the council’s March 13
meeting.
BLACK PANTHER (PG-13)
After the events of Captain America: Civil War,
T’Challa returns home to his isolated,
technologically advanced African national to
take his rightful place as king.
FRIDAY
(12:30) (3:45) 6:45 9:35
SATURDAY (12:30) (3:45) 6:45 9:35
(12:30) (3:45) 6:45 9:30
SUNDAY
MON-THURS (1:20) (3:30) 6:45 10:00
GAME NIGHT (R) A group of friends
who meet regularly for game nights find
themselves trying to solve a murder mystery.
FRIDAY
(12:30) (3:45) 7:00 9:45
SATURDAY (12:30) (4:00) 7:00 9:45
SUNDAY
(12:30) (4:00) 7:00 9:30
MON-THURS (1:20) (3:30) 7:00 10:00
PETER RABBIT (PG)
Feature adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s classic
tale of a rebellious rabbit trying to sneak into a
farmer’s vegetable garden.
FRIDAY
(12:30) (3:45) 7:10 9:40
SATURDAY (12:30) (4:10) 7:10 9:40
SUNDAY
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MON-THURS (1:20) (3:30) 7:10 10:00
$9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth
41612
By Richard Hanners
contribute an in-kind, no-cash
match to assist in the effort,
Green said.
The 2-acre area between
the future city shop and the
former planer shed was suc-
cessfully removed from the
floodplain map by the Fed-
eral Emergency Manage-
ment Agency. The city’s new
greenhouse will be built in
this area, Green said.
Surveying has begun for a
trail system around the proj-
ect area. Some of the trails
could be open to the public
by this summer, Green said.
Improvements to an existing
bridge are undergoing prelim-
inary engineering analysis,
and funding for the bridge
work would be included in
the funding request for trail
paving, he said.
City staff were soliciting
bids to repair and paint the
siding of the former sawmill
building to improve its ap-
pearance until a future com-
mercial use for the building
was decided, Green said.
Some vandalism and theft of
tools had taken place at the
building, and the city plans
to install video cameras in the
area to increase security, he
said.
The city council also unan-
imously approved a resolu-
tion to exempt the contract for
the greenhouse project from
the traditional competitive
bidding process and allow an
alternative design-build con-
tracting method. No public
comments were made during
A TTENTION G RANT
C OUNTY
Monday - Thursday
7am- 6pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Mendy Sharpe FNP
V ETERANS :
Did you know a service-connected
disabled veteran is entitled to
FREE use of Oregon State Parks?
See your Grant County Veteran Services
Officer today for more information,
Katee
located at Grant County Courthouse. Hoffman
Call 541-620-8057 for an appointment
Apppointments
available
37759
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41608
Poor response
so far to
community
income survey
Blue Mountain Eagle
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