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Show Cmtmille citizens fight for 400 Wo extension By TOM HARALDSEN CENTERVILLE The immediate im-mediate fate of a proposed 400 West extension from 1950 to 2025 North in Centerville will be determined deter-mined on May 17, when city council coun-cil will address a recommendation from staff on the project. That date was set by Mayor Dean Argyle following a presentation presenta-tion from citizens and parents in the area to the council Tuesday night. A capacity crowd in the tiny city council chambers wanted their views known as they fight for the extension, which would, among other things, allow a secondary route to and from Reading Elementary Elemen-tary School. Anita Todd, safety and welfare commissioner for the Reading Elementary PTA and spokeswoman spokes-woman for the group, submitted petitions with nearly 350 signatures to the city last week, petitions calling call-ing for a speedy and complete resolution re-solution to the problem. Mrs. Todd and her supporters were unhappy about a council decision on March V that granted only conceptual .approval of engineering, surveying and appraisal studies on the project at a cost of $5,900. Mayor Argyle began the hearing on the agenda item by briefly reviewing re-viewing the city's history of studying study-ing the extension. "We haven't exactly ex-actly been sitting on our hands," he stated. "There has been, and will need to be, a lot of work done on this issue, and a lot we need to study and review." He encouraged the group to provide pro-vide the council with concerns, and then specific short and long range solutions, adding, "we want to do what's right, and I'm confident that within 60 days, we'll be able to meet with you again with some ideas and solutions." Mrs. Todd, the mother of five, four of whom attend Reading, was well prepared. She began her presentation pre-sentation by reading from the state PTA's objectives list, and added, . "as caring citizens, we are here tonight to address our safety concerns con-cerns and how they can be helped by the 400 West extension." She said the group understood the financial burdens the city faces, and advocated that the city establish estab-lish a criteria by which to evaluate street improvement projects. Using Us-ing a handout she provided to ,' each council member, she suggested sug-gested those criteria include safety for pedestrian, traffic and emergency vehicles; the number of people affected by such projects, including the master-planned collector col-lector roads and public buildings; the costs to the city, both if projects pro-jects are improved or not improved; im-proved; and the public interest and involvement, if there is any. "We know that 400 West has been master-planned as a thoroughfare, thor-oughfare, and that 2025 North is master-planned as an east-west collector. At Reading Elementary, there are 635 students from 330 families. Of those, 21 percent are bussed from Farmington, and 32 percent live east of Main and south of 2025 North. That means 47 percent per-cent of the students live west of Main and south of 2025 North, and 500 children have only Main Street as an entrance to the school," she said. Mrs. Todd added that bus drivers driv-ers at the school refer to 2025 North as a "hornet's nest," and she then showed council a videotape of congestion problems at the school during the hours when students arrive or are dismissed. She became emotional for a moment mo-ment when she related thoughts of her father, Arnold Pace, a school bus driver who told her that in his 16 years of driving buses, the situation situa-tion at Reading was the most dangerous dan-gerous he'd seen. "We've had volunteers offer literally li-terally hundreds of hours of service in looking into this problem. The school PTA is willing to donate $300 toward the project, which is triple our safety budget for the entire en-tire year," she said. What drew most of the council's attention, and perhaps their ire to a degree, followed. Mrs. Todd, using an overhead projector, presented a possible financing scenario for completing the project. Using cost estimates provided by the city of $37,000 for obtaining right-of-ways and $38,000 for road construction, Mrs. Todd stated her discussions with the three property owners involved in right-of-way acquisition had told her they'd sell for a combined total of $23,000. She also said one contractor had offered to put in the road at cost, and referred to the Davis School District's apparent support of the project through a large contribution contribu-tion of its own. "We estimate the project could be completed at a cost of about $32,900, with only $9,900 of that coming from the city's budget. That's a savings of $42,100." But Mayor Argyle and several council members voiced concerns. The Mayor pointed out that by ordinance any such project needs to be let out for bid, and later, city administrator David Hales added that the extension, which would be built on the old Bamberger right-of-way, might create additional costs for chain-link fences or retaining walls. With a number of questions still unanswered, and taking the group's suggestions tinder advisement, advise-ment, the Mayor suggested the item be placed on the May 17 agenda, agen-da, while city staff discusses the project with engineers, property owners and the school district further. "I can promise you that if you all return that night, and we hope all of you will, we'll have an answer for you one way or the other," he stated in conclusion. Coincidentally, that May 17 meeting will be the night council holds a public hearing on the fiscal 1988-89 budget. This street project, and several others, are fighting for the $200,000-plus street improvement improve-ment budget money the city expects ex-pects to spend next year. |