09/24/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Meeting 9-24-01 Page 12 Mr. Metzung: As you are aware, earlier in the year, I did do a road survey that was very preliminary and kind to rate the streets and Hickory Hill didn't fare real well. These improvements, while I haven't gone back out to re-rate the streets, are certainly going to raise that number a lot higher. Part of what we run into with these concrete patches is the ride quality. So, that doesn't mean anything as far as the structure of the road. The structure of the road is still going to rate very high; it is just not going to ride very well. Mayor Rinker: Then the other thing that I...and this is all I want to make sure that we address before this decision is made--because, you know, it's not a question of whether, it sounds like it is only really a question of when--for this--and there will be other similar streets. But we have two Issue 2 applications we are putting together. Really, by far and away, the most significant one is Eastgate and Meadowood which is going to be sanitary sewer. Phil and I have been talking a lot about these only because we've got to get these in by the end of the week. And, you know historically, we've fared preriy well by making a combination request where we limit to a certain extent the amount of the grant, the zero-interest loan and then the actual contribution the Village makes and then finally the assessment that the property owners get. I think it's fair to state that we've really made it a point to say that for those who have to convert from septic to sanitary throughout the Village, we're going to inake sure that the nut that each house has to pay is going to be comparable. So, we kind of use that as our given, as our starting point, that every household will be looking at a cost that is comparable to other neighbors and then we don't get that feeling that one neighborhood is doing any differently than another. Then, you work back from there. In our neighborhood, we had 80 some houses. With Eastgate and Meadowood, we are looking at about 50 to 60. Eventually, Thornapple will have to be tied in. I mean, we just do this thing by increments. Every time we have gone in, from Beech Hill, Worton Park, and we've done it to some extent on S.O.M. (we were less concerned because we knew we would be doing other work) but we've tried to make sure that we don't ignore other infrastructure--typically, that is stormwater--and then some landscaping--that when we finish up, that people can say that in their neighborhood it looks even better than the way we left it. So, the strategy is what I am getting at--when we apply for Issue 2, we are looking at expenditures that are either going to come out of the General Fund or else we have to lever straight-out grant money. Two or three years ago, Highland Heights did better than, frankly, than we did for Highland Road sewer, they got a complete grant which I think is exceptional. So, our gambit here is that for Meadowood, we can do the same thing. I just want to make sure we understand that at the end of the day we are going to be looking at each neighborhood where we do these kinds of improvements that we are trying to make sure that we are using the money well. Mr. Busa: I hope I can get involved in this conversation; it is my street---Hickory Hill--and because of that I am not too concerned or in favor of getting involved in debate--Hickory Hill is in bad shape. We all know it. It's 33 years old. We fixed about 125 running feet of it which set insult to all our neighbors and I am getting ridiculed and harassed by our neighbors on Hickory Hill saying why are you band-aiding this street? Now, it did fix that section--the 4 section before the first oval, but it don't take care of the rest of the street and it's going to pot. It's been going to pot for a long time. ... It needs attention. If there is a second option on this contract, let's borrow money for that instead of something that's not so important--to that resident--all residents on Hickory Hill--they want it fixed up. They want something--they are not asking for asphalt--they are asking for either fix it with concrete--all of it--or asphalt it. Whatever you want to do. The Engineer has some good ideas. He