Monona Council tentatively awards contract for Bulldog Boulevard improvement project
By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor
The Monona Council tentatively awarded a contract to Bacon Concrete LLC, of Postville, for the Bulldog Boulevard improvement project at its April 4 regular meeting.
At just over $204,000, Bacon came in around $40,000 less than the engineer’s estimated cost for the project, which involves installing permeable pavers for much of the street. Because of the steepness of a section of the street, and the need to sand it in the winter, pavers will not be used for that portion, noted Jon Biederman, with engineering firm Fehr Graham. Getting sand into the cracks of the pavers, he said, would not make them permeable.
Biederman said the pavers will look much the same as those used for the aquatic center parking lot. Bacon was also the contractor for that project and plans to use the same subcontractor, Culvers Landscape, to install the pavers, so they are people with which both he and the city are comfortable, Biederman added.
Work on Bulldog Boulevard, which runs in front of the aquatic center, will begin after the pool closes for the season, Biederman noted, in order to prevent disruptions.
New stop signs
The council agreed to make the intersection of South Page and Dull Streets a three-way stop in order to slow drivers down in the area, which is frequented by kids.
The stop signs will go up as soon as signs can be located or ordered.
Storm water management ordinance
The council approved the first reading of a new storm water management ordinance. Developed with the help of Biederman, using a similar ordinance created by West Union years ago, it will establish policies to manage and control storm water runoff occurring from new development of residential, commercial and industrial areas. The goal is to reduce peak runoff caused by land development. It will hopefully result in cost savings to the storm water collection system, increase safety, control erosion and reduce downstream flow.
Developments that require storm water management will have to detain the difference between a five-year, pre-developed storm and a 50-year, developed storm.
Biederman said storm water management “can be any method that controls runoff. It’s not limited to one thing.”
Options include permeable pavers, detention basins and biodetention systems.