Commission holds hearing on 5-year plan

The Nevada Planning Commission voted 6-0 Thursday evening to send a positive recommendation to the Nevada City Council for the city's 2012 five-year capital improvement plan.

The plan includes about $3.2 million in capital improvement projects for 2012, plus an unknown amount for the Public Safety Building renovation or replacement. Over the five years of the plan about $8.6 million in capital improvement projects are proposed, which includes the Public Safety Building and an unknown amount to have the city's water towers inspected and then to develop an ongoing inspection program.

City Manager JD Kehrman told the planning commission that they are currently estimating the cost of the Public Safety Building project will be between $3 million and $5 million; but until the city hires a consultant to look at the current facility they will not know if it can be renovated or will have to be replaced.

The current building has a problem with mold, stemming from water leaking into the basement, as well as a lack of adequate space for the police and fire departments.

He said that after the current parks sales tax expires in 2014 there will be $700,000 to $720,000 available in the general fund.

"We're looking at a debt service payment of about $400,000," Kehrman said.

"We will start next year, but there will be no money going out in 2012," he said.

The other project in the capital improvement plan with an unknown cost is painting the interior and the exterior of the city's water towers. Kehrman told the commission that until the towers are inspected they will not know what will need to be done.

He said that the city has never had a regular inspection program for the towers and they will need to hire one of the companies that do this. They will be able to put divers into the water towers and use remote cameras to inspect them before they are painted.

Kehrman told the planning commission that over the next five years, the city is planning to spend about $50,000 per year on replacing water mains and water meters. Water meters slow down over time and cost the city money. He said that some of the water meters in town are past their useful life.

"We plan to start with the meters for the largest water users and then move to the residential users," he said.

Other water system-related projects include replacing permeators at the water treatment in 2014 for about $70,000, renovating the acid and caustic basin in 2014 at a cost of around $140,000 and replacing the acid room underdrain in 2015 for about $320,000.

The capital improvement plan also calls for the reconstruction of the apron at the Nevada Municipal Airport in 2012 for an estimated cost of $1.41 million, with the cost of the upgrade coming from a 95-percent matching fund grants from the state and the Federal Aviation Administration. The city's cost of the project will be about $134,000.

The city's wastewater treatment plant, although new, can be made more energy efficient by modifying the ultraviolet light sterilizer to allow the two sections of the unit to be operated separately. The estimated cost of this project, scheduled for 2013, will be about $32,000, to be paid with money the city has from the State Revolving Loan Fund that financed the new wastewater treatment plant.

Money from the same loan fund will be used to add remote computer control for the city's wells, water towers and sewer pump stations.

One of the major problems the city has had with its sewer system has been infiltration of rain water into the sewer mains, overloading the treatment plant. The north and south interceptor lines are about 50 years old and were made from corrugated pipe. Over time these have deteriorated and are a major source of infiltration. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has told the city these lines must be replaced.

In 2013 the city is planning to replace the north interceptor line at a cost of about $300,000 and in 2014 replace the south interceptor line for about $560,000. The financing for both projects is to come from the State Revolving Loan Fund.

The city will also be spending about $900,000 over the next five years to replace sewer mains around the city to cut down on the amount of rainwater that finds its way into the sewer system. The financing for this will come from the State Revolving Loan Fund.

In 2012 the city plans to install sewer mains in the Meadow Lane development in the southeast part of the city at a cost of about $320,000. The financing for this project will come from the State Revolving Loan Fund.

The Frank E. Peters Municipal Golf Course clubhouse is on tap for improvements in 2012, with an estimated cost of $350,000. And in 2013 the city is looking at spending about $150,000 on walking trails.

The final project to be paid for with the current parks sales tax is Earp Park, the scope of which depends on a decision on the Public Safety Building.

In addition to the 2012 capital improvement plan, the planning commission also held two public hearings and voted 6-0 to send a positive recommendation to the city council two right-of-way easements for sewer lines in the southeast part of town.

The first was for sewer lines in the Meadow Lane development and the second was for sewer lines in the East View Heights development.

These two right-of-way requests are to install new sewer lines to serve the residents of the Meadow Lane development. The project will also make city sewers available for other future development in the area.

When this project was initially proposed the city was planning to install a "bare bones" system that would have required grinder pumps to serve parts of the Meadow Lane development, Kehrman told the planning commission.

This revised project will put the mains deeper and will not require pump stations, he said.

"We know there will be growth here. It will cost less to do this now, rather than in the future," Kehrman said.

This line will eventually need to serve Camp Clark, as well as future residential development in the area and development in the I-49 corridor, he told the commission.