Prescott council delays decision on SR 89 widening after wide public comment; directs staff to extend comment period and detail effluent repairs

Prescott City Council on Tuesday decided not to vote on design alternatives for State Route 89 through the Granite Dells and instead directed staff to extend the public comment period by 30 days, hold additional public question-and-answer opportunities, and return with a plan to replace the aging effluent pipeline that underpins the project. The item had been submitted under Resolution No. 2024-1876 as the first of two public hearings on 15%-level alternative design concepts for an effluent and wastewater pipeline improvement project and associated roadway options.

The discussion drew a sustained public turnout: residents and technical commenters challenged traffic modeling, the limited sampling period for traffic counts, growth-rate assumptions and the transparency of cost information underlying an estimated project budget discussed publicly as roughly $37,000,000. Speakers recommended alternatives including implementing a lower-cost interim option (referred to in the materials as “Alternative 2B”), exploring slip-lining of the effluent main, testing smart traffic-signal systems, and producing graphical “before-and-after” views of the Narrows so the public can visualize scenic impacts.

Council members voiced a mix of…