The list of street projects is as follows:

BOMAG/chip seal with $175,000 allocated

Holmes Road – Beauxart Garden Road to dead end

1000 block 13^th Street from the dead end to the dead end

Omaha Street to dead end to dead end

Memphis Street- Verna Street to dead end

Nashville Street – 34^th Street to dead end

Atlanta Street- Seventh Street to Ninth Street

Sixth Street- Nederland Avenue to dead end

Fifth Street- Nederland Avenue to Boston Avenue

Two and a half Street- Gage Street to dead end

Avenue B- South Second Street to South Two and a half Street

South Two and a half Street- Avenue B to Avenue D

South Two and a half Street- Avenue E to Avenue H

South Seventh Street- Avenue E to Avenue H

Queens Street- dead end to dead end

19^th Street- Queens Street to Seattle Street

21^st Street- Queens Street to Seattle Street

Gary Street- 16^th Street to 17^th Street

Avenue F- South 35^th Street to Highway 69

Avenue C- South 20^th Street to South 21^st Street

South 17^th Street- Nederland Avenue to Avenue E

 

Concrete repairs with $350,000 allocated

Concrete- Ribbon gutter replacement

28^th Street- West Chicago Street to Gary Street

West Chicago Street- 28^th Street to 27^th Street

South 14^th Street- Avenue D to Avenue H

South 15^th Street- Avenue D to Avenue H

 

Hot mix overlays with $750,000 allocated

Holmes Road- Beauxart Garden Road to concrete

14^th Street- from concrete at 500 block to Helena Avenue

20^th Street- Helena Avenue to Canal Street

South 14^th Street- Nederland Avenue to Avenue H

15^th Street- Nederland Avenue to Helena Avenue

South 17^th Street- Nederland Avenue to Avenue E

NEDERLAND — The Nederland City Council is hoping residents will have a smoother ride around town in the near future.

The council held a workshop on street projects prior to their regular meeting on Monday afternoon.

The next step in the process is to pull soil samples for the streets and send them to a lab in Florida to comply.

The main portion of the construction project is Nederland Avenue. Power lines will be rehung and wooden utility poles will be traded out for metal ones.

City Manager Chris Duque said this will open up the roadway and beautify the avenue, and improve the intersections and aesthetics of the road.

“It will cost $17.7 million to do everything. Of that amount $2 million can do the overhead for the utilities,” he said.

The goal is to have as few hanging wires across the street as possible and run a conduit under the street. The contractor will put in a two-inch conduit.

If the council wanted to go a cheaper route, it would cost from $2.5 million to $4 million to chip seal the street.

“That won’t do everything,” said Rick Bourque, vice president of Schaumburg and Polk. “It’s a very old street. It doesn’t have good base material. It was built in the 1940s.”

Another aspect of the project are drainage issues and replacing grades including replacing 10,300 feet of water line and more than 600 feet of sewer lines.

Steve Hamilton, public works director, said the old utilities needs to be replaced.

There will be no width increases to the street.

The project will take 30 months to complete. It will be done in stages so not to disrupt traffic flow and temporary driveways will be built to businesses.

Both Avenue H and Helena Avenue are concrete and they should be able to handle the excess traffic, Duque said.

Councilman Billy Neal said they will have to go with a bond issue and put it before the voters if it cost $17 million.

Duque said the city can use certificates of obligation instead. If it’s more than $18 million, then it will have to brought before the voters.

He added that the Nederland Chamber of Commerce and the Nederland Economic Development Corporation have been asking how the Nederland Avenue project will affect businesses.

“Part of this is reaching out and having public meetings, as informal as possible, to take their temperature and be ready for the next step,” Duque said. “This is what we’ve been working on the past two years and ask what y’all think.”

Mayor Dick Nugent said they now have to go the public with this.

“We have to make a decision before Christmas so we can run a notice of a special election in January,” Duque said.

Nugent asked what happens if the proposal fails. Duque said much depends on how the bond is proposed. For instance, it could be stated Option A could be for the total cost of $18 million. Option B would be for $4 million.

Switching to work on Boston Avenue, Duque reported there is no handicap parking spaces or handicap ramps for the museums at Tex Ritter Park on the avenue. Two spaces and a ramp need to be installed to be ADA compliant.

The project will be contracted out to Schaumburg and Polk.

Some sidewalks along Boston Avenue are tripping hazards. Portion will be torn out an re-poured.

During the Heritage Festival trucks with the carnival company are jumping the curb to set up booths and damaging the curbs in the process. They will now be directed to use the ramp to the Entergy easement instead. Vehicles will be documented they are using the ramp and any damages to curb recorded.

Lastly, banners attached to light posts on Boston create a sail-type effect on windy days, causing the posts to sway and creating a potential hazard. The chamber of commerce uses banners for fundraising purposes and adds an aesthetic quality to the street, according to Duque.

He said the posts need to be fixed to handle the force of the wind.

Hamilton suggested getting new posts with smaller banners and new brackets attached to the post to hold the banners.

Twenty-six new light posts would cost $41,000 and total $50,000 after the contract is completed. Another hazard are the banners are currently too low and people can bump their heads on them. The new banners would be raised so they would no longer be a hazard.

Some of the banners have also been vandalized since they are lying so low.

The city would like to get the new posts at the first of the new year so it won’t interfere with the Heritage Festival in the spring.

 

At the regular meeting, the council approved closing Boston Avenue from 15^th Street to the Entergy ROW on Monday, October 31^st for the Nederland Chamber of Commerce’s “Trunk-R-Treat” event; closing Seventh Street from Nederland Avenue to Atlanta Avenue on Monday, October 31 for the Seventh Street Baptist Church’s block party; and closing Franklin Avenue between 12^th Street and 13^th Streets on Thursday, October 28 for the Langham Elementary fall carnival.

A public hearing was set at 4 p.m. for Monday, October 24 for the Neighborhood Empowerment Zone Incentive Policy. The policy is to provide tax abatements for the NEDC’s The Landing development at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport and to redevelop older neighborhoods.

Also approved was an incentive to Newtron Beaumont, LLC. The NEDC Board of Directors approved a $100,000 incentive at their September 21 meeting for a one-year monitoring period.

The electrical and instrumentation business will move into the old ISTC building on Highway 69 and expand as well.

Nugent called the incentive a homerun for the NEDC.

David Ball: 409-721-2427