Council orders feasibility study after petition from Eightieth Street residents; reconstruction could be in 2026 CIP

City Engineer Kara Garen told the Victoria City Council that staff received a petition from property owners requesting reconstruction of Eightieth Street and asked the council to order a feasibility study.

Garen said the petition was signed by seven of the 10 property owners on Eightieth Street; one adjacent parcel is owned by Holy Family. She told the council the street was paved by neighborhood action in the 1990s over a previously gravel surface and does not meet current city structural standards, lacks curb and gutter and has no storm sewer system. "The pavement is in pretty poor condition," Garen said, and the observed failures indicate subgrade issues that require full reconstruction to current city standards.

Nut graf: The council approved a resolution declaring the petition adequate and ordering preparation of a feasibility report. The feasibility study will estimate reconstruction costs, evaluate extending city water to the neighborhood and include neighborhood outreach; the council will hold a public hearing and later decide whether to order the improvement and assessments.

Garen reviewed the history: residents paid for a bituminous overlay around 1996; the neighborhood was evaluated in 2009 but then opposed moving forward. The city did connect houses to sewer in 2002 (with laterals in backyards), performed maintenance treatments (crack seal and seal coat) in 2010 and 2017, and the pavement is now beyond useful life.

Garen said the project is currently scheduled in the capital improvement plan for 2026. If council authorizes the feasibility study now, staff will present cost estimates back to the neighborhood and then to council; the study will also evaluate the cost and logistics to extend city water to the homes. She explained city practice: if water is installed under a street reconstruction, the city typically installs service connections and assesses properties according to the city’s assessment policy, while actual connection to the new water is left to homeowners.

Council members asked procedural questions: whether petitioning changes residents’ control over outcomes (staff replied it does not materially change the council’s discretion), whether the project would be constructed this year (it would not), and how feasibility study costs would be funded. Finance/staff member Ms. Hardy told council staff would use the long-term street maintenance fund balance to pay for the feasibility study this year.

The council voted to approve the resolution declaring the petition adequate and ordering a feasibility report for Eightieth Street improvements. The motion carried by voice vote.

Next steps outlined by staff: complete the feasibility study, hold a neighborhood meeting to present costs and assessment methods, and later hold a public hearing before the council to decide whether to order the improvement and levy assessments.