Politics & Government

Concord Main Street Project: Scaled Back, Still Over Budget

City Council will begin discussions about Downtown Complete Street Improvement Project on Monday.

On June 30, the Concord City Council will begin discussions on the latest developments in the Downtown Complete Street Improvement Project. The special meeting was called on June 26, after City Engineer Ed Roberge released a 13-page update on how city officials propose to move forward with the project.

In the memo, Roberge outlines what officials have come up with in the wake of two rejected request for proposals that came in multiple millions of dollars over budget. Instead, city officials put out another RFP and worked privately with a contractor, Severino Trucking Company Inc. of Candia, to get the proposal close to its initial budget. 

Good news and bad news

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First, the good news: The project will, according to officials, eliminate the double-curb access issues on the western side of Main Street, will improve access to 18 storefronts, will widen sidewalks with “quality materials,” the main drag will still feature a cobblestone median, and trees and banners will be will featured on the roadway.

Most of the design elements will remain with the exception of the moving of the clock tower at Eagle Square, an unnecessary cost for the project, as well as solar trash compactors, ornamental fencing around the granite tree planters, lighting under the granite seat blocks, and other items.  

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The bad news, however, is multifaceted: First, according to Roberge, the basic costs of the project are about $3 million to $5 million higher than first expected.

The initial project was supposed to cost around $8 million, which included $4.7 million in federal funding. Roberge said the latest base bid is in the $12.5 million range. Another $1.7 million will be needed to bury power lines between Pleasant and Thompson streets and $4.5 million for a snowmelt system for sidewalks, bringing the total to nearly $19 million for the project. 

This price tag doesn’t include maintenance for the next 20 years of repairs and resetting of cobblestones and pavers that is estimated to be about $16 million during the course of the next 20 years, although those costs may be lowered slightly in the wake of changes to the project.

But there are ways to lower the costs of the project, according to the report.

Centre to Concord streets instead of Storrs to Storrs

To lower the cost of the construction to around $10.2 million, Roberge proposes completely changing the scope of the project.

Initially, the project proposed to be “Re-Thinking Main Street,” a complete renovation of Main Street from Storrs Street by the Holiday Inn in the north to Storrs Street by St. John Church in the south. The city can save about $1.9 million by only renovating Main Street from Centre Street in the north and Concord Street in the south.

Another $210,000 could be saved by eliminating planters and other features, according to the report.

Roberge also proposes eliminating the snowmelt system as simply too costly. 

No night work, 2+ year construction timeline

Other parts of the project that have changed are the plan to have the project constructed at night and the exact timeline for the project.

Initially, the work was supposed to be done at night but this has changed due to the higher costs of working at night. Construction will be performed between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., with the exception of major utility and paving work, which will be done at night.

There will be a flag staffer to assist pedestrians during the duration of the project, as well as extra signage. Stores will remain accessible and no work will be done on weekends or holidays. Money has also been set aside for a public relations firm to assist with marketing. 

The project will also take longer than nine months, according to the report.

If approved by the council, the contractor expects to start as soon as possible but won’t be finished until mid-to-late-2016, according to the report, much longer than expected.

On the up side, he surmised that 75 to 90 percent of the parking spaces would be available for customers downtown during the first to phases of construction. 

Four new permanent full-time employees

Instead of the snowmelt system and solar trashcans, officials are proposing hiring four new maintenance staffers that would be permanent and dedicated to maintaining the downtown. The “red carpet team,” as they’ve been nicknamed, would include three maintenance aides and a supervisor that would sweep, pickup trash, provide regular maintenance, and remove snow during the winter months.

The cost would be approximately $272,000 in the first year ($85,500 for a supervisor and $58,000 to $66,000 each for the aides). Another $30,000 a year would be needed for equipment.

The extra cost would add 1 percent to the tax rate permanently. The added pension and benefits cost of the four new employees does not appear to have been accounted for in the funding.

Funding

The city will need to raise between $6.5 million to $8.3 million in “local” money, meaning funds that don’t come from the federal government. The city did receive about $475,000 in tax credits previously. To fund the least costly project, Roberge suggests bonding $4 million at a cost of $320,000 a year, or a little more than 1.2 percent tax increase for the life of the bond. He also proposing raiding $800,000 from the $2.5 million in estimated costs to bury the utilities between Pleasant and Thompson streets, since a final price came in less than expected and officials had already planned on utilizing via the Sears TIF district, money that will be offset by passing on more of the cost of running the city to other taxpayers. This funding also does not include the $16 million maintenance during the next 20 years. 

Public hearings

The Concord City Council will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday to discuss amending and restating the Sears Block TIF district, will vote on approving bonds for the burying of the utilities, as well as traffic impact fees and water bonds, as part of the construction.

The board will meet again on July 14, to discuss the entire project and hold a public hearing about it. 

Also read

Here are a number of posts on Patch during the last few years about the project: 


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