Colfax contracts with Ayres for preliminary work on Balsam and Oak for $87,000
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The next two streets identified in Colfax for reconstruction and paving are Balsam Street and Oak Street.
To start the process, the Colfax Village Board approved a contract with Ayres Associates at the December 11 meeting for a total cost of $86,800 to survey the two streets; for the preliminary and final design and permitting; for the bidding phase; and for the construction administration phase.
The cost for Balsam Street is estimated at $620,000, and the cost for Oak Street is estimated at $227,000, for a total cost of $847,000.
Surveying the two streets will cost $7,300, while the preliminary and final design and permitting will cost $61,000. In addition, the bidding phase will cost $4,200, and the construction and administration phase will cost $14,300, according to the contract from Ayres Associates.
Scoping relevant parts of the sewer system for both streets was expected to take place soon after the village board meeting.
If Oak Street requires replacement of the sanitary sewer, the total cost would be $227,000, and if Oak Street does not require replacement of the sanitary sewer, the total cost would be $179,000, noted Gary Stene, village trustee.
Will Oak Street be a project that will fall under Tax Increment Finance District 3? Stene asked.
“Yes,” said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer.
Stene also asked about the intersection with Balsam Street and Railroad Avenue and whether the sanitary sewer work would extend to south of Railroad Avenue.
Mitch Nicols of Ayres Associates asked how old the sanitary sewer would be under the intersection of Balsam and Railroad.
“Not that old,” replied Rand Bates, director of public works.
Balsam Street is in very bad shape, Stene noted, asking if the plan was to include curb and gutter on both sides of the street.
Nicols and Bates indicated that was the plan for curb and gutter.
The question is — how bad is the sewer line coming from the old creamery building, Bates said.
On the west side of the Department of Public Works building is the old metering pit for the creamery, so the sanitary sewer may have be replaced to the north side of the pit, he said.
The sewer line should be finished all of the way, Stene said.
The sewer line on the north side of the pit would be the village’s cost, Bates said.
First Avenue
The north end of Balsam Street beyond First Avenue is not included for blacktop, but why is that not going to be blacktopped? asked Jeff Prince, village president.
The distance is 170 feet, and that section is like a driveway for the two houses, Bates said, noting that the homeowners remove the snow themselves from that section.
The intersection on First Avenue was new in 2012, he said.
Base course will be put down on that section, Bates said.
Railroad
Anyone who has driven Railroad Avenue lately knows that the street also is in rough shape.
Is Railroad in the TIF district too? Stene asked.
“It could be,” Niggemann said.
Since a TIF district includes a part of Railroad Avenue, the whole street would be considered to be in the TIF district, she said.
The estimated cost for Railroad Avenue from Main Street to county Highway M is $1.1 million.
The village should leverage borrowing power and the general fund “to get where we need to go and use the TIF where possible,” Stene said.
If the utilities do not need to be replaced on Oak Street, the asphalt can be ground and laid down again, Niggemann said.
Pine Street was ground and laid down again about 10 years ago, and while at the time it was thought that the procedure, which was a fraction of the cost of new asphalt, would buy the village a couple of years, the street has held up quite well.
Niggemann said she would obtain additional information about whether it is feasible to proceed with TID 3 funding for Balsam and/or Oak Street.
Surveying the streets will be completed this year, and bidding and construction would take place in 2024, she said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved contracting with Ayres Associates for the surveying, the preliminary and final design, the bidding process and construction administration for Balsam Street and Oak Street.
