By Linda Stinnett

 

With the presentation of her recommended budget yesterday, City Manager Kathy Sexton suggests nearly $1.6 million in facility improvements in 2013.

That spending will primarily be the renovations of the new community building at Madison Avenue Central Park. That building, a former school gym now called The Venue, will become a community event center, with an addition for offices and studio space for the Derby Recreation Commission.

That spending comes on the heels of a high-project year in 2012, in which the city budgeted just less than $4 million for facilities. Those included the planned (not all projects have been completed) construction of a fuel station at the new public works building, a $36,000 community LED sign on Rock Road at Derby High School’s entrance, a $3.5 million remodel of the DRC, the $30,000 remodel of the Rock Road fire station and a $141,000 improvement at the police shooting range. The shooting range costs were shared by Haysville, Mulvane and Wesley Security, which paid a total of $61,000 of the cost.

This year city staff requested a $700,000 fiber optic network between all city facilities. It would both increase the computer network speed by 1,000 times and reduce the Cox Communications bill by $3,750 per month, according to Ted Austin, director of operations. That project was placed in the 2014 capital improvement plan. 

The CIP has been set for five years, but only the 2013 year is set in the budget plan which the council will approve next month.

 

Streets, intersections

The 2013 budget includes the design of two major projects, construction of two others and $300,000 for land acquisition related to upcoming projects.

The recommended CIP will include the repair of the bridge deck on Woodlawn at Spring Creek. That decking has been deteriorating for several years and now includes voids and concrete de-lamination, according to Dan Squires, city engineer. 

The $23,000 in repairs will correct surface issues. The problems are not structural, he said.

Repairs will begin at Red Powell and Nelson Drive, with $100,000 budgeted for that effort.

Design will begin on the Nelson Drive and Meadowlark intersection and Rock Road improvements from Patriot to the new middle school. That section of road missed repairs when it transitioned from a county roadway to the city, leaving a portion of Rock looking different from the rest of the roadway.

 

Stormwater management

The city will put $50,000 into a watershed study of Spring Creek planned by the Sedgwick County Stormwater Management Advisory Board.

Sexton said the county is working on implementing the study of Spring Creek and another watershed. Spring Creek is important to the city, as all of its waters funnel into Derby from 24 square miles of neighbors to the north. 

“Long-term, this study will provide valuable information for city engineers to use in developing specifications and other requirements for new detention ponds and other stormwater infrastructure,” Sexton wrote in her report.

The study would gather data on topography, land uses, impervious surfaces, floodplains and stormwater infrastructure. Public involvement will be used to both gather information and to keep affected landowners aware of progress. It will also perform hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, water quality models and will prioritize improvements, she said.

 

Parks

Design work will begin next year on the Madison Avenue Central Park. Plans will begin for the abatement of contaminated soil at Warren Riverview Park, the site of the former public works facility.

A grant will provide a portion of the cost of the new crumb rubber surface at High Park. The city will pay $34,000 for the surface and the state will pay $25,000 of the cost.

The city also has plans for alterations which will provide easier access to the building at Garrett Park. The cost is $50,000.

The CIP currently calls for development of the Madison Avenue Central Park in 2014, at a $3.5 million cost. The Warren Riverview Park development is slated for 2015, at a $2.7 million price tag. 

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To see a complete list of the five-year CIP, go to www.derbyweb.com. The plan is included in the city manager’s recommended budget.

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