VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The $3.2 million 5th Avenue Northwest reconstruction project will happen in the summer of 2020.

In October of 2018, the Valley City Commission voted to widen the street from the current 30 foot width to 34 feet to allow for parking on one side of the street.

The city commission has taken some heat for that decision, but city administrator David Schelkoph said he believes it’s in the best interest of the city.

KLJ engineer Chad Petersen said the city commission agreed to pick up the additional cost of special assessments associated with this project.

The city plans on holding another public input meeting in early 2019 to discuss the 5th Avenue Northwest project. Bids will be let in 2019 and the reconstruction will start in 2020.

The following  is a timeline and details concerning the 5th Ave. NW reconstruction project written by City Administrator David Schelkoph.

As of today’s date, the 5th Ave NW project construction has been delayed for one year due to a budget shortfall at the NDDOT. The NDDOT was $300,000 short of their cost share obligations. The NDDOT will have the additional funding needed for this project allocated in their FY 2020 NDDOT budget. The City Commission has voted to delay this project for one year to accommodate the NDDOT. By approving this delay, the City Commission has saved the city and property owners over $300,000. Public meetings will be scheduled in the near future to promote continued communication with the citizens of Valley City and this project.

The following is a timeline along with general circumstances surrounding the City Commission’s decision.
1. Aug. 30th 2018 – First Public Input Meeting, approximately 24 properties were represented out of 74 total. At this meeting there were two primary issues that came up.
a. Worried about the cost of assessments. The attendees voted to keep the same width of the road to keep the cost down.
b. Worried about the number of trees that would have to be taken down. This was associated with the width of the road as well. There will be trees taken down in this project but the public in attendance wanted this to be minimized.
2. Oct. 16th 2018 – City Commission consideration of 5th Ave NW Project. It was at this meeting that the commission voted to keep the 30 foot width of the 5th Ave. NW project primarily due to the wishes of the property owners who attended the Public meeting in August. Less than 1/3 of the property owners attended the Aug 30th meeting.
3. Oct. 17th and 18th – City Commission reviewed the KLJ reports and decided to meet again and discuss the decision that was made during the meeting on the 16th. The short timeline for this meeting was due to the NDDOT requiring delivery of KLJ design drawings for the project. If the city did not act quickly KLJ would not have time enough to get the drawings done and delivered to the NDDOT. Here are some details that the commission considered for the Oct. 18th Meeting.
a. What would happen if the city were to go from 30 foot to 34 foot width?
1. Costs would increase by $60,000. A $3.14 million dollar project would become a $3.2 million dollar project. City increase $6,000. Special Assessment increase $6,000.
2. Parking would be permitted on one side of the street.
3. KLJ reported that there would be no additional trees removed.

4. This issue was added to the already scheduled Special Commission Meeting that was held on Oct. 18th – City Commission made the following decision.
a. To change the street width from 30 to 34 feet with the following reasoning.
1. Voted to cover the additional cost of widening the street with the R&R fund ($6,000.00) so no increases in special assessments would have to be paid by the citizens.
2. Commission had received a response from less than 1/3 of the property owners in the project district. Of those that did respond, very few wanted to loose parking along 5th Avenue. Concern that all the property owners along this project did not fully understand the consequences of losing parking along 5th Ave.
3. Concern was over property values and what would happen to them if parking along 5th was removed.
4. Tree removal will be the same as with the 30 foot width plan.

The commission, at this meeting on the 18th, felt it had answered the two main issues that were brought up at the Public meeting on the 30th of August.

5. November 6th, The city commission voted to postpone the construction of the 5th Ave. NW project until the NDDOT could finance the entire project.

David Schelkoph
City Administrator

The following is a summary of the costs associated with the 5th Ave NW project written by KLJ engineer Chad Petersen.

The preliminary cost estimates for the 5th Ave NW reconstruction project were as follows:

30-foot Street (No-Parking) $3.14 Million
34-foot Street (Parking on One Side) $3.20 Million

The difference in local share between the two options is approximately $12,000. The Commission’s motion back on October 18th included not special assessing the difference between the two options.

The estimated special assessments for the street improvements would be approximately $2500-$3000 for a 50-foot lot.

Other work being completed with the project included water main, sewer services, sewer main and storm sewer. Currently the plans include replacement of water main from 2nd St NW to 5th St NW and 8th St NW to 9th St NW. Sanitary sewer services are proposed to be replaced from 2nd St NW to 6th St NW. Sanitary Sewer Main is proposed to be replaced from 6th St NW to 8th St NW. The maximum special assessment for each of these items is:

Water Main
$4,000/hook-up
Sanitary Sewer Services
$1,500/hook-up
Sanitary Sewer Main
$4,000/hook-up

None of the areas are proposed to get complete replacement of both water and sewer. So the maximum utility special assessment would be $5,500.00.

Storm sewer special assessments are based on contributing area. Storm sewer is also eligible for federal funding. An average special would be estimated at approximately $2,500.00.

KLJ Engineer Chad Petersen