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Improvement project
Granville's Burg Street plans raise questions
Sunday, February 26, 2006
By GALE CADY WILLIAMS
ThisWeek Contributor
Granville officials got an earful at a meeting Wednesday intended to inform villagers about improvements slated for an old and narrow street.
Interim Village Manager Molly Roberts and the chief project engineer presented details of the Burg Street Improvement Project to a packed council chambers at an informational meeting called to address public concerns.
During an often heated question-and-answer session, several Burg Street residents and neighbors voiced their concerns, which included fears about increased speeding on the widened road, traffic congestion, lack of waste-hauling service, school bus access and lack of access to homes during the construction project. Some expressed fears that their lawns and trees would be ruined.
Officials hope to begin the $400,000 project in April and finish at the end of May, but objections raised Wednesday could affect the start date.
The meeting was intended to address safety concerns about the narrow and winding section of Burg Street at the base of the hill on which Denison University sits. The project would include widening the roadway to an average of 18 feet, with 5-foot sidewalks and 5-foot tree lawns in front of houses along the roadway. The road there has Denison to the north and homes along the south.
Proponents of the project say the biggest benefit for residents may be the addition of a previously nonexistent stormwater and sewer line along the roadway. Currently, stormwater runs downhill, unabated, onto the affected area of Burg Street.
Project engineer Jerry Turner, representing the Columbus-based engineering and surveying firm of CF Bird + RJ Bull Inc., said he thinks doing the project now is in the best financial interest of the village. Pushing the start time back to summer, as several residents suggested, could cause bidders to back out or raise their prices, he said.
"We've got good bids, and if we bid this in the middle of the year, they'll increase," Turner said. "We got good prices because it's slow now. Later, we get into construction season."
He also pointed out that the price of elements in the project, such as asphalt, concrete, blacktop and gasoline, frequently rise.
"The longer we wait, the more it will cost," he said.
Turner assured the group that any road-widening would occur on the opposite side of the street from their houses -- into the hill and not into the front yards of residents. He also said trees would be undisturbed.
Granville service director Terry Hopkins said four bids were submitted for the construction. Project engineers will select one and take that recommendation back to village council for approval.
Hopkins said new gas lines already are under construction along the designated part of the street, and American Electric Power is set to begin moving utility poles next week. Utilities there need to be replaced before street construction gets under way, Hopkins said, to prevent the aged connections now in place from needing repair after the new roadway is laid, thus ruining it.
When the project is completed, sidewalks and tree lawns will line the street, with a new storm sewer, utility connections and brick paving in the section that is currently brick, Turner said.
The road will be closed, however, with limited access for residents for the 60-day construction period.
More questions were raised when residents were told the road would be totally closed for three days after the sidewalks and driveway approaches are laid to prevent cracking.
"I have two little children, and you're telling me I'm going to be stuck for three days?" asked one woman, who refused to be identified.
In an attempt at being a peacemaker, Roberts answered questions and tried to calm fears.
"It's going to take everybody's cooperation and effort to do this," she said. "We have to make concessions somewhere."
The most outspoken opponents seemed unfazed by village responses to their concerns during the meeting.
After the meeting, one vocal opponent, who also refused to be identified, told This Week, "Nobody who lives on this section of the street wants it to be done. But it's going to be done, and that will be that."
Council's light, safety, streets and sidewalks committee met Thursday to hear the engineer's plan.
Granville Village Council hopes to complete project plans at its next meeting, scheduled for 7:30 pm. Wednesday, March 1, Roberts said.
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