By Ashley McLeod, staff writer
Feb 19, 2016, 13:28
COLONIAL HEIGHTS — City Council approved a budget amendment last week that would allow for several projects to receive funding needed to begin.
The amendment called for the appropriations of funds in the amount of $1,276,001.
Following the closing of the sale of the old Colonial Heights Courthouse to construct the new Kroger, funds are now available for several projects, which have been on hold.
Of the money, $700,957 will go to the school system. The funds will be used for the much-needed renovations of science labs and high school classrooms.
$450,044 will be used for city Capital Improvement Projects.
$125,000 from the Kroger land sale will go to the City Animal Shelter renovation and expansion project, with a total of $225,000 going to the project. The city received two large donations for work on the shelter, which were matched from city funds for the project.
The shelter, located at 301 Dimmock Parkway, was built in 1979 and is in need of many repairs, including new roofing and floors among others. The renovations will also include an addition to make the shelter larger, including new storage areas, grooming areas, and adding space to help with overcrowding that the shelter is experiencing.
“I’m excited and thankful for the donations to the animal shelter. We were able to then match funds to that,” said Colonial Heights Mayor Greg Kochuba.
The amendment also allowed for a $100,000 allocation of funds to the Violet Bank Museum renovation plan.
The renovations to the museum will include the addition of a new building on the property, which will function as a cooking building, similar to those that would be found during the time period the museum represents.
The museum is also planting a hedgerow on the property with money from a Piedmont District Grant. Also, a monarch butterfly garden is planned.
The project will begin once enough grants have been established, or other donations received to match the money given by the city.
Of the appropriated funds, $250,044 will go to the Temple Avenue sewer line replacement, which coincides with the Kroger project. The budget amendment also transferred $500,000 from the Bruce Avenue Drainage Project fund to this project.
According to City Engineer and Director of Public Works Chuck Henley, the sewer line replacement project is imperative to the city.
“Those lines are critical in the sewer system of the city and will serve the new Kroger store once it’s in service,” said Henley.
The sewer line replacement comes after many years of planning. Henley said that plans for the replacement were found in the city office dating back to the 1980s.
Conditions of the sewer lines crossing underneath Temple Avenue have slowly deteriorated over the years, to what Henley described as highly unreliable with suspect serviceability.
The work on the sewer lines will be a process known as underground pneumatic boring, or a jack and bore operation. This is a method of construction that involves horizontal boring. The construction team will drill a hole underground horizontally in order to fix the piping.
This method of construction will occur 20 feet below the surface, which will allow for no disturbance of the surface ground, meaning that drivability on Temple Avenue will not be disturbed during the fix.
“There may be disruption in terms of noise from the operation during the workday,” said Henley.
The project requires the acquisition of easements in the southwestern area of Hamilton and Temple Avenues, which will be used to put in a right turn lane needed to mitigate traffic associated with the future Kroger at the location.
According to Henley, VDOT has agreed to fold this project into its own project concerning the construction of the new interchange. Henley said that this was the goal so that the same contractor working on the roundabout project, Alan Meyers, could perform the work needed.
The project is also being pushed forward in order to reduce disruption and inconvenience of having the three different constructions ongoing together.
The total cost of the sewer replacement is estimated at $750,000.
