The Mount Pleasant Citizen

But will residents "have it their way"?

The Village of Mount Pleasant is poised to receive $435,000 in federal stimulus funding to apply to repaving Lathrop Avenue between Taylor Avenue and Highway KR in 2010. The $870,000 reconstruction project will replace earlier plans to resurface Lathrop Avenue this year at a cost of $300,000. At its May 28 meeting, the Public Works Committee gave the go-ahead for $60,000 in engineering work needed to keep the project moving ahead.

Along with the federal funding comes the need to comply with state and federal standards for road design. For a road like Lathrop Avenue, minimum standards require 11-foot traffic lanes, 3-foot paved shoulders, and a 7-foot "clear zone" on both sides of the paved area.  The clear zone would require that there be no structures within 7 feet of the pavement edge.

The southern part of Lathrop Avenue currently has 10-foot traffic lanes and 2-foot gravel shoulders. A resident group called the Lathrop Neighbors apparently got the village to agree to keep the road that way for the originally-planned repaving project. So, the change in plans drew concerns from residents.

Jim Wardrip, spokesperson for the Lathrop Neighbors, voiced his concern about the 7-foot clear zone: "You mentioned buildings in the clear zone. Does this include trees?" The state considers trees to be immovable structures, so standards dictate that trees within the 7-foot zone must go. Wardrip said "I am talking for me now, we have some century old black walnut trees that would be in danger with the 7 foot clear zone."

The village thinks they can probably get the state to allow an "exception to standards" that would allow some trees to remain in the clear zone, but only if they hold fast to the other road standards, including the requirement for paved shoulders. Said Village Engineer Bill Sasse: "The exception to the standards of a shoulder width is not looked on lightly by the Federal Highway Administration."

Director of Community Development Jim Henke explained: "What we tried to do is get over the first hurdle and the first hurdle is to meet the standards of the 28 feet and the 3 feet. We are trying to at least maintain these standards because we know we are probably going to ask for an exception to standards."

Henke later added that "We do not want to start right off the bat having a major exception to standards." If the state does not grant the exception and the village wants to preserve the existing streetscape on Lathrop, the stimulus money might not be made available, according to Henke. Some communities have decided to refuse stimulus money, presumably because of the strings that are attached.

Addition of the paved shoulders to the plan was also an unwanted change for Lathrop residents. Said Wardrip "Mr. Havn and I had some discussions about walkways, and what the people said they would accept, and that still holds true. And the DPW committee said 'No, we are not going to do any walkways' and all of a sudden it appears again."

Trustee Sonny Havn responded to Wardrip that "These are not my standards. This is a DOT [Department of Transporation] standard. I have had nothing to do with changing the walkways at all. We came to an agreement before, when the village was going to do the project."

Regardless of whether the trees or paved shoulders are in or out, the village will need to pony up extra money next year to make the project happen. The $435,000 in stimulus money covers only half of the estimated $870,000 cost. That leaves it up to the village board to come up with the other $435,000.

The Public Works Committee members are:

Ken Flones (Village Trustee)
Sonny Havn (Village Trustee)
Richard Anderson (resident member)
Jim Henke (Director of Community Development)
Bill Sasse (Village Engineer)
Mark Benish (Highway Department)