Friday, March 29, 2024

City focuses on improvement projects

Posted

The city of Gatesville has an ambitious list of capital improvements planned for 2023, and much of the cost of the work will be paid for by state or federal grants.

The projects will be underway either before or soon after City Manager Bill Parry retires. Parry, who took the city administrator post in June 2015, is building a house in Denton (north of the Metroplex) to move closer to family. Before coming to Gatesville, he served as director of the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance, and prior to that he served as garrison commander at Fort Hood.

With a goal of leaving the city in good shape, Parry has worked closely with the Gatesville City Council on prioritizing infrastructure upgrades.

"A capital improvement project is anything that costs greater than $5,000, and we have five major ones planned for 2023," Parry said.

The first project is to replace water lines and an area that includes Mill, Barnes and Mary streets on the north side of the Gatesville Housing Authority.

"This is almost a million-dollar project and it's funded by water and sewer rates," Parry said. "There is a significant amount of infill construction — new houses — and that area has some of the oldest infrastructure in Gatesville. This project will start shortly."

A second project is replacing and upgrading water lines on Lovers Lane from Business Highway 36 to Lowrey Drive.

"This will upgrade lines from 6-inch cast iron to 10-inch PVC," Parry said.

Often when people complain about water pressure issues, it is a function of the size of the water meter at a property, but the type of lines determines the volume of water a property can receive.

"A 6-inch line (often blocked by a buildup of debris over the years) will push about a third the amount of water that can be pushed through a 10-inch line," Parry said.

Upgrades in this area "will give us a properly-sized loop system," he added.

"One hundred percent of the cost of this project is funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds," Parry said. "The city was allocated $3 million (in ARPA funds) and half of the funds will go to replace water and sewer lines."

The improvements will also allow the Gatesville Independent School District to place a fire hydrant in the area if it chooses to do so, he said.

"We will advertise for bids after the first of the year," Parry said.

A third project involves city hall.

"City hall is approximately 85 years old, and after approximately 60 years a lot of the time things quit working right," Parry said.

The city has an option to consider moving its operational headquarters to an old bank building at the corner of Main and Eighth streets.

"We have enough money built up in the fund balance to cover most of the cost (of moving city hall), but we want to have an asbestos abatement done first," Parry said.

Project four is one that has received plenty of attention over the years — the old rotunda at the corner of Osage Road and Lovers Lane.

"We will demolish the old rotunda nursing home," Parry said. "The city received a Brownfield Grant from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and an engineering firm in Austin is working on the technical specs.

"The process is going so we can get this done. Once the structure is down and the lot is cleared, we will design a new police station for that location."

The current police station is located in the old Lone Star Gas building near city hall, and is an older structure without much room for upgrades.

"As the city continues to grow we need to have a facility for the police department that can grow along with it," Parry said. 

"Also, most of the police calls we receive are east of Lutterloh (Street), and this will allow for a quicker response. Getting closer to the east side of town is probably a smart move, and the city owns that property."

The new police station "will be paid for with debt service bonds and there will be no impact on the tax rate, which will remain the same," Parry said.

A fifth project involves the building of a new city park, but it will be in addition to the current parks instead of replacing the city parks. However, natural conditions will eventually result in big changes at Faunt Le Roy Park, although the process could take years.

"In 2015 and 2018 the city experienced significant flooding from rainfall and that impacted Faunt Le Roy Park both years," Parry said. "The park is essentially on a peninsula and engineers have told us the river will change that area and it doesn't want to route through hairpin turns."

Although millions could be spent as a temporary solution, "at some point Faunt Le Roy Park will fall into the river and no longer be there, but that's a long way away."

With funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the city will build a new park across from the Gatesville Fitness Center at 34th Street. The plan is to move the skate park to that location, and to have fitness stations there.

"We received a $1.3 million grant that will require a city match," Parry said. "The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) has already approved the project, we are just waiting on FEMA approval."

Until nature runs its course, "we plan to leave Faunt Le Roy Park the way it is now — it will remain where it is with its current amenities. We won't close Faunt Le Roy Park, but some day it will eventually fall away."

Parry said the new park project will be 75% FEMA funded and 25% city funded.

Another project set to take place is not a city endeavor, but a plan of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

At the intersection of Business Highway 36 and Texas Highway 36 directly east of Walgreens and south of Walmart — which is state property — TxDOT plans to build a monument area with a stone wall and plants that will serve as an entrance to the city.

"The city is not involved in that project, and it is 100% state funded," Parry said.

The city's previous involvement included a grant application made by Cheri Shepherd, director of the Gatesville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We are pretty excited about these capital improvement projects and we're moving forward," Parry said. "We'd like to do more but as always, there is a limited amount of funding."