Paul Rignell
Columbus reporter
After a split council vote at an Aug. 13 city meeting, Columbus is joining Anoka County to plan construction of a traffic roundabout at Broadway Avenue and Kettle River Boulevard next year.
An official joint powers agreement is pending minor amendments that are being drafted by City Attorney Bill Griffith.
County officials say the intersection has been among the area’s worst for severe crashes and replacing the four stop signs there with a roundabout should reduce injury risk. Anoka County is new to developing roundabouts, but they also are planning these projects in Blaine and St. Francis.
The county has secured a federal grant of $495,000 for the work in Columbus. County estimates say that the project will reach total costs of around $1.14 million. Columbus would be liable for about $66,700 in costs out of a city transportation fund after a proportionate share of the federal aid (or $38,000) is deducted. The county would owe about $716,000 after further engineering costs are added.
New right-of-way negotiations with adjacent land owners is the county’s responsibility, and Curt Kobilarcsik, engineering program manager, said the hope is to settle all easements in time to advertise for project bids next March. The county would plan to start construction sometime near Memorial Day.
Kobilarcsik reported that the intersection now sees as many as 340 vehicles per hour in a day. County staff projects that Broadway Avenue would remain open through the roundabout work.
Votes of support last week from Mayor Dave Povolny and Council Members Jessie Messina and Denny Peterson prevailed in a 3-2 decision.
Among the concerns that were spoken by those voting against the agreement, Council Member Bill Krebs said he wondered whether adjacent lanes for walkers and cyclists could be cleared well during the winter. Kobilarcsik said that the project’s design calls for 5-foot-wide boulevards for storage between the roundabout curbs and all sidewalks.
Council Member Jeff Duraine said he could not remember another county project in Columbus where the city was asked to contribute funds.
Kobilarcsik replied that this plan is on a much larger scale than past mill and overlay work or simple pavement repair.
Street bids and bonding
Duraine watched the mayor and other council members vote unanimously to authorize bids and bonding for road paving this fall in two neighborhoods – one including 177th Lane, 178th Lane and Heidelberg Street, and another with 184th Avenue and Bender Street. Duraine was recused from all related votes because his residence is on Bender Street.
The city is pitching the two neighborhoods as one project for prospective bidders in the hope of drawing costs that would be lower than early estimates. Property owners who are scheduled for assessments learned July 23 that bills for the work might reach close to $8,200 for a single lot on 177th, 178th or Heidelberg or $8,600 on 184th or Bender.
City Administrator Elizabeth Mursko said then that any lot owner would have an option to pay their full assessment in the first 30 days after billing with zero accrued interest. She said Aug. 13 that two property owners had reported they could afford to make those lump payments. Though more specific costs are not expected until September, other affected lot owners who could pay their full assessments this fall should notify city staff in August.
Columbus resident Arlie Post, whose large lot is accessed from a driveway around a corner from Bender Street on 181st Avenue, repeated for the council that she has little to no reason for driving on the gravel or potential new pavement on Bender or 184th.
She also said again, as she had during a hearing July 23, that she feels it is unfair for the city to propose a double assessment (maybe more than $17,000) on her land for the project. City staff’s reasoning was that Post feasibly could split the northern rear half from her lot to create a new parcel with access from Bender.
Post replied Aug. 13 that would be unlikely any time through at least the next 10 years. She said the lot has been in the family since 1964 and that it is actively in use for agricultural purposes.
She counter-offered to be considered for a single assessment, and she said that she calculated the extra impact to total $387 per lot for the other neighborhood owners.
Griffith said there would be a more appropriate time for council to discuss that request.
“That’s a subject for an assessment hearing (Sept. 10) at this point,” he said.
Staff plans to unseal the project bids Sept. 4 and recommend a contract to council that following week.