Last week’s snow sealed the fate of any plan for a new driveway for city hall, said City Manager Jonathan Smith.
“We have obtained additional quotes – asphalt is the cheaper way to go,” Smith said at the Nov. 12 City Council meeting, as he withdrew a proposal to repave the driveway from Depot Road to the new garage apron. “The problem is the early winter weather. We’re kind of done at this point until the spring.”
City Council had voted on Oct. 28 to table the proposal, which includes nine parking spaces, two of which are handicap accessible, concrete curbing, and two storm drains. Gravel will be used until the driveway can be paved, Smith said.
“It will be a little bit of a mess in terms of plowing – we’ll do our best to keep it to a minimum,” he said.
Estimated cost was $39,808 – $8,000 would come from the City Hall Renovation Budget, and the rest from the Parking Kiosk Fund, which has a current balance of $44,515.
Council member Al Avery said the driveway should have been part of the original, $300,000 budget.
Council member David Marshsaid the city should approve a Capital Improvement Plan to determine a priority list for spending.
“We’ve been talking about a capital improvement plan for a long time,” Marsh said. “It’s taxpayers’ money, let’s use it on what’s most important for the city, not what we want to spend it on.”
The existing driveway was found to be breaking up due to its 20 years of age, it was only three inches think, and concrete curbs to protect the edges were never installed.
– Phil Custodio