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Council approves engineering design services for planned West Locust Street extension after councilor questions
Summary
The council approved a resolution to contract engineering design services for the West Locust Street extension. Council discussion focused on why the street extension is being advanced now, with staff citing the official map, capital-improvement planning and access needs for the wastewater treatment/biosolids and cold-storage facilities.
The River Falls City Council voted to approve engineering design services for a planned extension of West Locust Street after Council member Viereck pulled the item from the consent agenda for clarification.
Viereck asked why the project was being advanced now and whether the work included only a water-main extension or a full street construction. City Administrator Scott Simpson said the extension appears on the city's official map (referenced via "Ordinance 2018-15" in the packet) and in the city's capital improvement project list. Simpson said the timing was driven by several converging factors: additional residential development in the area, the need to provide a secondary access and to serve truck traffic for the wastewater treatment site and the new biosolids facility, and planned connections to a cold-storage site. He said running water and a street through Locust better serves industrial and truck access than routing trucks through residential feeders such as Apollo and Maple.
Council members debated whether the street extension was strictly necessary for the neighborhood or primarily to serve industrial/truck access and the wastewater/biosolids facilities. Simpson characterized the decision as a planning step influenced by projected subdivision activity and operational needs at the wastewater treatment area; he said staff recommended the design work now because the subdivision was proceeding and the city will bring the biosolids facility online later in the year.
After discussion, the council approved the resolution to obtain engineering design services for the West Locust Street extension. The motion passed in a roll-call vote in which Council member Bjork recorded the only recorded no vote; other members voted yes.
The packet and the council discussion identify the project as a design-phase authorization; specific construction funding, schedule and final design details were not specified on the record. Council and staff noted the item follows prior official-map and CIP references but did not record a final construction timeline at the meeting.
