Council approves road reconstruction

It’s been nearly nine years, but two more blocks of Eighth Street — from Prospect to Sahlman Avenue — are getting a much-needed overhaul this summer.

Cloquet city councilors unanimously approved the reconstruction of the pothole-ridden street, along with replacing water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer infrastructure at a total estimated cost of $1.5 million. Construction is expected to begin in May or June and be completed in September.

The majority of the costs will be paid through state aid dollars, which come with requirements that set the road width at 32 feet and limit parking to one side. City utility funds and assessments to the residents living along the road are other funding sources.

Assistant public works director John Anderson estimated road costs at $38 per square-foot of property frontage and $9,600 per home for utilities.

Because of strong objections by residents to putting in a sidewalk in 2015 — despite the fact that Eighth Street is one block from Washington Elementary School — there will be no sidewalks along the road. There will be bumpouts on the sidewalks at Doddridge Avenue and Eighth Street, however, to comply with American Disability Act requirements.

Two residents addressed the council during a public hearing on the project. Pam Erickson was worried about her elderly mom’s ability to pay the assessments. City administrator Tim Peterson suggested her mother look into deferring the payments until the next time the home is sold, noting that she would probably qualify.

A second resident asked about the sewer line replacements, noting he has frequent backups into his home. Erickson said the city will be scoping all sewer lines, and should be able to determine if the resident needs to replace the sewer line. Public works director Caleb Peterson said the city has grant funding available to help homeowners who need to upgrade or repair leaky or decaying lateral sewer lines running from the home to main sewer lines.

The grants are part of a program to reduce the problems of clean-water inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system, which can overwhelm the system during heavy rain events and cause overflows of untreated sewer water. The program offers financial assistance of 80 percent of costs up to $4,000 for the repairs, to be reimbursed after completion of the project. All grants must be approved by the city in advance of the work being done.

Anyone interested in the grant program should contact Anderson at 218-655-1509 or [email protected] for more information.