Greeley City Council just approved a $100K budget increase for 12th Street Storm Drain Outfall Project
By Kelly Ragan
Greeley City Council approved a change to the city’s contract with Icon Engineering Inc. for design services for the 12th Street Storm Drain Outfall project to an increase of $106,730.
It’s the third adjustment for phase 1B of the project.
The original contract sum for this phase was set at $541,200, according to city documents. With the approval of the latest change, the total now sits at $971,790.
What in the heck is an outfall project and why is it taking so long?
When Greeley gets heavy rain, downtown often gets flooded. The flooding damages homes, businesses and cars and could even be dangerous..
City council approved a plan to address the flooding in 2017, and that plan is finally coming to fruition.
If it was approved in 2017, why is it taking so long?
Funding is a big part of it. The 12th Street Project alone is expected to cost $81 million.
City officials previously explained that Greeley had a master plan indicating the city could do this project as far back as the 1990s. However, the city didn’t have a stormwater utility or a dedicated funding source for stormwater capital improvement projects at that point. Though it had been suggested earlier, the idea didn’t take off until 2000.
So, that’s when the city started bringing in money to make stormwater projects possible.
The city developed a stormwater master plan in 2007, but then came the Great Recession and many projects had to be put on pause.
The city developed another master plan in 2015, and city council then approved the 12th Street Project in 2017.
The city is in the design phase now. Construction on the project is expected to wrap up in 2032.
That sounds like practically an eternity, but that’s because there’s a lot of infrastructure involved, including roadways, water lines, storm sewers, sanitary sewers and more. The project is essentially an underground pipeline, so construction crews will have to rip out and dig around all that infrastructure. It’s complicated by the fact that much of the infrastructure in the downtown area is more than 100 years old, and it’s likely the team will discover other old things that need to be replaced. Designers have to account for that, too. All that takes a significant amount of time.
In addition, the city has to coordinate with other organizations such as FEMA, which adds to the timeline.
Phase 1B contains what city staff previously said is the most important and expensive components of the overall $81 million project. It includes the installation of a new storm outfall, essentially a storm drain pipe that discharges stormwater runoff to a natural body of water, next to U.S. 34, which will stretch from 12th Street north to the Poudre River.
The increase in cost came down to four factors:
Enhanced water quality design. This change was requested to address the need for E. Coli treatment and “first flush” illicit discharges (think any liquid you’re not supposed to flush, such as oil, paint, etc.). The need was not recognized at the time of the initial design, according to the change order, but a combination of increased federal attention on the subject, as well as firefighting activities in the project area (which can mean using water additives to help fight fires) encouraged the changes.
River restoration design. While a river restoration design was included in the original project scope, the viability and scale of the design wasn’t known at the time.
Pre-construction services. A change in construction management approach necessitated additional pre-construction services, but that should help the city save money during construction.
Phase 1A and 1B combination. This proposes constructing phase 1A and phase 1B at the same time.
According to the city, the extra money spent in the design process should reduce construction costs by more than $2 million.
The design work was previously estimated to cost the city about $700,000, with construction expected to cost about $12 million.
Phase 1B is expected to be completed Feb. 23.
The design for phase 2 of the project is expected to cost about $1 million. Phase 3 is primarily work near the rail lines, and its design is anticipated to cost about $400,000.
The full project, which consists of seven phases, won’t be complete until at least 2032.
Another bond issuance of about $21 million is planned for 2025. Those bonds are intended to fund construction of Phases 2 and 3, as well as the design and construction of Phase 4. Stormwater rate revenues are expected to cover the three remaining phases.