Marysville’s Finance Committee is moving forward with recommendations to spend nearly $2 million on infrastructure and facilities.
At Tuesday night’s finance committee meeting, the group agreed to sponsor legislation to spend as much as $300,000 for traffic signaling at the intersection of Route 4 and Scott Farms Boulevard, $1.1 million to construct a storage building and maintenance shop at the city’s waste water facility and $475,000 for electricity, street lighting and landscaping work at the city’s Innovation Park.
At the meeting, City Engineer Kyle Hoyng said the $300,000 traffic signal will help the flow of traffic in the area.
Officials have said a traffic signal has been needed in the area for some time.
Hoyng said that when the Redwood development was proposed, the city did a traffic impact study which determined the development would increase traffic in the area by about 30%. As such, the developer agreed to pay 30% of the total cost for the signal, including design.
Officials have said the cost to the city could come in lower than the $300,000.
“All of it depends on what the bids come in for construction,” Hoyng said, noting that the city intends to advertise for construction bids in the next couple of weeks.
City officials said the signal has been planned since that study. The city budgeted for the signal last year, but the project design was slow and it was not ready by the end of 2020.
Even so, Hoyng said the signal, “should be up before anyone moves into that development,” speaking of the Redwood Apartment neighborhood, a nearly 26-acre, 143-unit complex proposed for the south east corner of the Scott Farm Boulevard and Route 4 intersection.
Hoyt said the traffic signal should be operational by the end of this year or early next year. He said the first residents will not be moving into the development until later in 2021 or 2022.
At the meeting, Richard Shane, chief operator of the city’s waste water treatment plant, and Richard Felton, wastewater superintendent, spoke to the committee.
“We are in dire need of a maintenance shop,” Felton said.
Shane said the waste water treatment plant has a lot of multipurpose areas that should not be. He said the site does not have space for storage and does not have a dedicated spot for maintenance. He said crews use any available empty space for storage as well as maintenance.
“We have stuff scattered everywhere,” Shane said.
He added that trucks do not have room to pull into the facilities so they need to sit outside and that can make problems for sludge removal.
Public Service Director Jeremy Hoyt said much of the maintenance on the facility and the equipment is done by city employees rather than outside maintenance companies.
“If we are able do that and kind of keep that work in house and save some money that way, we may as well make it as conducive as possible for them to be as productive and efficient as they can be,” Hoyt said.
Shane said there was about $200,000 allocated in the 2021 budget for a smaller version project. Officials, however, have decided to expand the building, at an estimated cost range between $1.2 and $1.3 million.
Finance Director Brad Lutz said the fund where sewer capacity fees go has an ending balance of $1.6 million. He said the sewer operating fund has a balance of $22 million.
“I don’t see any issues with this project and obviously it enhances the site,” Lutz said.
Officials said with the expanded facility, it will allow for a centralized maintenance shop where tools and parts can be stored with room to work.
Hoyt said the building will be on the site’s northeast side in an area that has limited use options.
Officials said the building should have been constructed with the original facility.
Hoyt said the city has been working with Dayton Power and Light to bring electricity to the Innovation Park. The project will include electric to the site as well as street lights and trees at the park.
He said the $475,000 requested is based off 2017 bids, but early bids now indicate the price tag could be up to $100,000 lower now.
Hoyt said that since 2017 there has been other development in the area that has made electric infrastructure more accessible to the site.
He said the city actually budgeted for the expense of running electricity to the site in 2019, but did not make it happen. He said the city was reluctant to pay for the infrastructure until there was a guaranteed user.