“Detention pond is planned” |
| Posted: 18 Aug 2010 11:06 AM PDT Detention pond is planned The north phase of the storm water improvements to Welsh Road may now begin. The Watertown Common Council Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the city to sign a contract with Wondra Construction Inc. of Iron Ridge for storm water improvements near the Welsh Road area. The contract is for $564,911, but the Watertown Street Department has decided to complete some of the project for a savings of $77,748. The street department will be doing the concrete ditch excavation, grading, base course and water valve and hydrant adjustments. The storm water improvements include the construction of a detention pond on a 2-acre parcel just north of Old Settlement Drive that was recently purchased by the city. The detention pond will work similar to the two that are just west of Welsh Road near Farm & Fleet. During the time for public comment at the beginning of the meeting, Cathy Houchin, of 604 Long St., shared her skepticism of the detention ponds with the council. Houchin showed the council a picture she took earlier in the day that showed the detention ponds adjacent to Farm & Fleet full of water. "I realize there is a need for this water improvement, but the one by Farm & Fleet, I took a picture at 6 o'clock today and it's full of water," Houchin said. "It always has water in it. It's stale water. The mosquitoes are breeding in there and we know we have a problem right now in the city with mosquitoes. It either needs to be aerated or some chemicals that kill mosquitoes need to be put in there. It doesn't look real great for our city." Houchin also brought up several safety concerns she has with the detention ponds. "When you build a swimming pool in this town and you do it in-ground, you have to have a fence around it," Houchin said. "Those (detention ponds) are pretty deep and there's nothing around there to keep the neighborhood kids that might be over there from being down in that water. "Even as you drive along Welsh Road, there are some really deep culverts there," she added. "I don't drive there in the winter now with those new cement ditches or whatever they are called because there is no railing to keep you from sliding right in." Alderman Steve Zgonc, who represents the district that includes the Welsh Road area, said he thinks the good things that come from the detention ponds will far outweigh the bad. "I'm very happy to see this (resolution)," Zgonc said. "It's been a long time coming. We had some comments about the detention ponds near Farm & Fleet, but I'll take the good with the bad on that one. Mosquitoes are all over the city so we have to deal with them. As far as looks go, when they do mow the pond I think it looks OK. "The worst of the flooding problems is to the north of Welsh Road and this detention pond will take care of a lot of problems in my opinion," he added. "I'm glad to see we can get this going." City Engineer Joe Radocay said work on the storm water improvements should begin this fall. Houchin also gave the council her opinions on the proposed train depot in Watertown that would be connected to the upgraded railroad tracks between Madison and Milwaukee. "I would really like to see the city come up with a referendum, a pool or a survey to see if the people of Watertown want the train because everybody I have talked to doesn't want the train stopping in the town," Houchin said. "I don't want the train personally, but even stopping in the town, I think the cost overruns are going to be way more than what the city can handle. I think once this money is gone, we still have to keep it up and I don't think we are going to get the revenue back for what it is going to cost to sustain a station." Alderman Bob Wetzel brought up some questions he had about the train depot after he told the council about an article he read Tuesday in the Waukesha Freeman. Wetzel added the article implied it was a foregone conclusion that Watertown would be building the train station. "I thought, wow, are they (state and federal officials) kind of just going to put the station here whether we want it or not?" Wetzel said. "It (the article) pretty much says it (the train station) is already here." Mayor Ron Krueger said he cannot control what is printed in newspapers and added the train station is not a done deal as of this moment. "There has been nothing done yet," Krueger said. "There has been nothing done behind the scenes. I can't help what the Waukesha Freeman says and I can't even help what the Watertown Daily Times says, but we will be moving forward. We will have a public discussion. There is going to be nothing done behind closed doors." In other action Tuesday evening, council members approved the final reading of an ordinance specifying which electrical items will no longer be picked up by the city's sanitation department. The ordinance states such items as television monitors, printers, CPUs, laptops, video displays, keyboards, computer mice, external hand devices, fax machines, DVD players, VCRs, oil filters and microwave ovens will no longer be collected by city crews. Residents will be required to take these electronic items to the recycling center at the west end of Cady Street for proper disposal. Aldermen also approved the final reading of an ordinance prohibiting heavy traffic on Carr Street from South Tenth Street to South Twelfth Street. The final reading of an ordinance prohibiting parking on the north side of Oconomowoc Avenue from the east curb line of South Concord Avenue to the east end of the Oconomowoc Avenue bridge, and on the south side of the Oconomowoc Avenue bridge, was approved by the council. Alderman Brad Blanke also gave the council an update on the ongoing talks about the future plans of the buildings adjacent to the Watertown Public Library that are owned by the library. The roofs of the buildings need to be completely repaired and the city is also having issues with keeping tenants. Blanke said the library board is looking into what it would cost to repair the roof or raze the structures. "These discussions did continue at our last library board meeting and we are actually holding another library board meeting this Thursday," Blanke said. "We did get a preliminary estimate on replacing the roof on that building, which would run between $75,000 and $100,000. "Yesterday street department Superintendent Rick Schultz got through that building, took a look, gave a preliminary estimate on how much it would cost to raze those buildings," he added. "We will be discussing those options at that meeting on Thursday." Krueger also said the finance committee will be going over Schultz's figures when it meets Monday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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