Residents of Golf Course Drive in Baxter will have assessment bills showing up in their mailboxes as the city rebuilds the road.
The Baxter City Council on Thursday night held an assessment hearing for landowners who live on a stretch of road that extends from Excelsior Road to Woida Road, which will be improved starting this August.
Anderson Brothers Construction Company of Brainerd is the low bidder to build the road improvements, and the city will likely award the contract to them formally July 19. Construction is anticipated to be complete in October,
The project will involve "full-depth reclamation" of portions of the road, where existing asphalt will be torn up and combined with new bituminous materials to form a new road structure. A section from Universal Road to the Country Club housing development will consist of reconstructing the street, and installing new concrete sewers to replace deteriorating plastic storm sewers.
Several residents voiced dissent at Thursday's meeting, criticizing the scope of the project and questioning the extent to which it was financed with direct assessments, since so many people who don't live in the neighborhood use Golf Course Drive. The road runs parallel to Highway 371, in a busy retail section of the city.
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Roy Androli, who lives on Fairway Drive in the Country Club development, said the project would increase traffic to the point of a safety issue and demanded that the city put in a noise barrier wall to mitigate the sound.
The entire project cost is estimated at $1,373,536.
City assessments that landowners need to pay for the full-depth reclamation are estimated at $55 per foot.
Assessments for the reconstruction of the street from Universal Road to Country Club Estates were estimated at $102 per foot, and $20 per foot for the storm sewer in the same stretch of road. The estimated cost per lot at Country Club Estates was $2,065 for each of the 30 properties in the development.
Assessments for the full-depth reclamation were down compared to a prior city council meeting in May, because prices in the asphalt market had gone down. However, assessments for the storm sewer replacement were up, due to an opposite effect in that market.
Since two 5-foot bike lanes are being added to the street, Golf Course Drive will no longer be available for parking, project manager Mike Rardin said.
The interest rate for the assessments was estimated at 4.75 percent.
Residents who meet age, disability or military active duty status requirements based on income can request a deferment of their assessment, and the deadline to apply for a deferment to the first assessment payment is Aug. 31.
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The tentative date for assessments to be adopted is the city council's meeting on July 19.
ZACH KAYSER may be reached at 218-855-5860 or Zach.Kayser@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZWKayser .
