Marysville officials are in the beginning stages of making improvements to the Five Points Intersection on the city’s east side.
At Monday night’s Public Safety/Public Service Committee meeting, the group heard about plans to get the process started. City council also heard about the future of the intersection.
City Finance Director Brad Lutz told council of a change to the 2022 budget to increase spending from the city’s commercial TIF fund by $150,000 to $850,000, “due to adding some engineering at the Five Points Intersection.”
City officials said they intend to hire a consultant to look at the intersection. City Engineer Kyle Hoyng said the consultant will be able to look at traffic counts and project growth before making recommendations.
Public Service Director Jeremy Hoyt said city officials will likely not discuss options or considerations with the consultant ahead of time. He said he does not want city officials to steer the recommendations, even unintentionally.
Hoyt said the consulting group will likely create three options for consideration. Those options will be presented to the public. He said the key to deciding the best option “is going to be the public opinion on this.”
Emery said the goal is to determine “the best way to move traffic.” Officials also noted that the intersection is “a gateway” into the city’s Uptown.
Council President Mark Reams asked about the timing of the project.
Hoyt said preliminary planning will happen in 2022, maybe final engineering in 2023, utility relocation and right of way acquisition in 2024 and 2025.
Reams pointed out that Coleman’s Crossing is set to be widened 2023, but the Five Points project is set for construction in in 2025.
“Is there any way that we could look at changing those two priorities right now based on what’s going on at Five Points Intersection?” Reams asked.
Hoyt said the process could be expedited some, “depending on what the final solution is there, but it all depends on what this preliminary engineering turns out to be and there will be a lot of public input on a project of this magnitude.”
Reams said he appreciates the process, “I just don’t want to wait till 2025 to fix Five Points if we are going to have a Sheetz at that intersection.”
“It is already a problem intersection,” Reams said. “I can’t see living with that for three years before we fix it.”
Reams said traffic backs up on Cherry Street “all the time.”
Emery said that “if they move forward,” Sheetz has pledged to donate a portion of the parcel to the city to help with needed infrastructure improvements at the intersection.
He said “an option in the short-term” could be the addition of a turn lane or other temporary options.
“There could be some things that take place there to make it better under the existing conditions while we are still studying the Five Points Intersection,” Emery said.
Emery said that with the speed that development at Woodside is occurring, the extension of Professional Parkway may occur faster than previously anticipated.
“That would go a long way toward relieving some of the pressure on Five Points, so we will take that into account,” Emery said.
Hoyng said the process may be able to expedited a bit, “but we aren’t going to be able to build anything next year.”
“I recognize that, but I’d like to definitely be moving before 2025,” Reams said.
Hoyt said the city does have “some schematic designs completed that we are currently weighing in that regard.”
“This intersection is the biggest decision we are going to make in a long time,” Hoyng said. “Could we design something and get it out in early 2023? Probably. But I want to go through the process and evaluate it, study it and find the best solution moving forward.”