Busy Year For City Redevelopment Commission
WARSAW — The final meeting of the year was held at noon today, Monday, Dec. 7, for the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission. “We’ve had a great year, and got an awful lot done. I’m proud of the work we’ve had done,” stated Rick Snodgrass, commission vice president.
Jeremy Skinner, city planner noted the amount of work the commission has accomplished has grown. “This is by far the busiest (year) we’ve had, with more projects (on the plate,)” he said. The projects the past year have included Mariner’s Drive, some of Market Street, Winona PVD and Buffalo Street bond issues.
Future projects noted included the actual Buffalo Street project, side path at the Tech Park, possibly the bridge on CR 300N, and continued work on the Tech Park lift station. Skinner noted the first project he plans to tackle is the building of a side path from the Tech Park to CR 300N, while he would like to include a bridge project as well, elements of the bridge project are encountering environmental issues. He stated the city has a five-year window to complete phase two of the Tech Park project (lift station, side path and bridge) area, with two more years to complete. “We’re in good shape.”
It was noted the original interested entity in the Tech Park spec building is still interested, with a couple other potential entities.
Other discussion included the status of the Gatke building demolition, questioned by member Tim Meyer. Skinner noted the deadline is Jan. 1, with a couple interested parties “hem hawing” around. He noted there should be funds available to tear down a portion of the buildings, based on five-year-old quotes. It will be known after the first of the year what funds are available and how much of the facility can be demolished.
Mike Klondaris, common council board member, who is anticipating being appointed to the commission, questioned potential installation of sidewalks in the Mariners Driver area. Skinner noted that project was under a time limit, per an agreement with Parkview Hospital, and the scope of the work was done within the city’s right-of-way. Sidewalks can be a long range goal. Sidewalks, in certain areas, will be a of the Husky Trail Project.
Skinner additionally updated the commission on the Husky Trail Project. The goal is to complete the right-of-way acquisitions in the next several months, letting of bids between August and October, with construction in the fall of 206 or spring of 2017. There is one property still causing some concern on the right-of-way acquisition.
During the regular business, commission members approved claims to:
- Troyer Group, $32.50 for Mariners Drive Project.
- City of Warsaw, $600,000 payment obligated for the Wastewater bond
- Phend & Brown, $240,899.67 and $189,759.58 for the Mariners Drive Project
- Kosciusko REMS, $35.34 for street lights in the Tech Park
- Regions Bank, $97,297.50 for the city bond
- Faegre Baker Daniels, $38,388.38 and H.J. Umbaugh, $40,581.60 on the Winona PVD bond issue project.
There was also acceptance of a resolution for the disposal of personal property for the Winona PVD Bond and the bill of sale in connection with the Winona PVD Bond.
A change order, totaling $70,238.53 on the Mariners Drive project was approved for Phend & Brown. Skinner reported the change order covered the additional work discovered when asphalt was removed from certain areas, revealing problems with the underlying concrete. It was found removing the old concrete and replacing with an asphalt subsurface was more cost effective.
The project still came in under the engineer’s estimated cost of $650,000.