ThisWeek CW 08/11/2011
Canal Winchester’s capital improvements “wish list” totals $71 million in planned projects over the next five years, but only some of them will be completed due to budget concerns.
The largest project includes $1.5 million in water line and roadway improvements, to be paid for out of local funds and grant money from the Ohio Public Works Commission – if the grant is awarded to the city.
“The CIP (capital improvements program) update process occurs annually prior to submitting our grant applications to the Ohio Public Works Commission,” Public Works director Matt Peoples said. “Our first run for Ohio EPA funding for the ‘tank town’ water line replacement doesn’t look like it is going to be approved, so we’ve updated the plan to reflect that and will submit our application to the Ohio Public Works Commission for grant money through them.”
“Tank town” is the area east of High Street and north of the railroad tracks where an elevated water tower once stood.
The updated CIP includes active projects, anticipated needs and desired upgrades, according to Peoples.
“We’ve updated the CIP quite a bit for some of the things that are in the budget,” he said. “The five-year plan now takes us out to 2016 and you’ll see in there that the High Street overpass and Winchester Boulevard extension have been around since the 2006 update, but we’re still not budgeting for them.”
The High Street overpass and Winchester Boulevard extension have a combined estimated expense of $35.5 million. A new municipal building project which has been on the CIP since 2008, with an estimated expense of $6 million, will also remain on the update, but likewise is not expected to receive funding in the next budget.
“I’m trying not to bite off more than we can chew, so we’ve tried to space these projects out and they will get tweaked as the annual budgets come to fruition,” Peoples said. “For example, the Columbus Street reconstruction phase 2 project was originally slated to be paid for with an OPWC grant, but when the scoring of it didn’t indicate we would get funding, we pulled back on it. Fortunately, the road bed is in good shape even though the surface isn’t.”
Peoples said the original $1.5-million project for east Columbus Street is being redesigned to meet the basic needs of the city, and will include resurfacing and minimal traffic-calming and aesthetic improvements for an estimated cost of $250,000.
One line item of particular concern for Peoples is the wastewater plant upgrades necessary to meet new discharge standards set by the Ohio EPA.
“We do have some large dollars in 2014-16 for wastewater upgrades,” he said. “We’ll need to remove more nutrients from the system than we can currently handle. We’re already working on plans for that and figuring out how to pay for the upgrades without incurring a large chunk of debt.”
Approval of the CIP update began on Aug. 1, when it was initially presented to city council’s finance committee, which sent it on for consideration by the full council. According to Peoples, the service committee will have an opportunity to review the CIP update at its Aug. 15 meeting, prior to a city council vote on a resolution to approve the update later that same day.
A public hearing about the CIP update is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, at Town Hall 10 N. High St.