FREEMAN’S MAIN STREET PROJECT AND WHERE IT STANDS

JEREMY WALTNER  – PUBLISHER

The city of Freeman won’t fully agree to move forward with a proposed rebuild of Main Street — or decide against it — until the bids come in early next year, but the council made its biggest move yet in favor of the estimated $3.2 million project earlier this month.

Meeting Thursday, July 8, the Freeman City Council voted 6-0 to support Resolution 2021-04 which demonstrates a commitment to the project necessary to apply for financial assistance through the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT); the city of Freeman is working with District III Planning and Development to seek funds through the Community Access Program and the DOT grant application was due the week following the July 8 meeting.

“It is expected to provide $600,000 for portions of the project and it is due on July 15,” Carol Eisenbeis, the city’s marketing and development director, said at the meeting. “If we miss this (deadline), it’s pretty big.”

City officials clarified that the resolution committing Freeman to the project does not have any impact on the project itself — from the design of the rebuild to whether the council even accepts a bid.

“We still — always — have the right to reject all bids and stop everything,” Mayor Michael Walter said at the meeting.

“You have the right to reject all bids,” confirmed Paul Korn, whose business, Sayre Associates, is the engineering firm the city hired for the project. “You have the right to say, ‘Hey, we want to change the plan before this goes out.’ The plans are still under design, so there are certainly some changes that can be made. I would anticipate that those design changes would not be significant in scope where it affects the grant funding, but certainly there are going to be modifications as we go toward final design.”

Eisenbeis and councilor Lonnie Tjaden both confirmed that the city should have an answer on the DOT grant sometime this fall.

The full text of Resolution 2021-04 is included as part of the city’s official minutes of the July 8 meeting and printed on page 5B of this week’s Courier.

The city has already committed more than $2 million of its owns funds to the project.

More on the project

The Main Street discussion earlier this month also included a new look at redesigned curb extensions known as streetscaping being proposed at the intersections of Main and Third and Main and Fourth streets. As originally proposed by Sayre Associates, the streetscaping would have also been included at Main and Fifth and Main and Railway.

The new design is the product of work by a streetscaping committee appointed by Walter and tasked with finding a compromise to previous concerns about what had been referred to as “bump-outs.”

Emily Hofer, a third-generation banker at Merchants State Bank whose property would be impacted by the streetscaping, was a member of the committee and shared the committee’s findings on July 8.

“It was with very thoughtful consideration that this committee met several times over the last few months,” she said, noting the concerns expressed by the public — maintenance, cost and snow removal challenges — were taken seriously. “We listened to the public comments and visited numerous communities that had some sort of streetscaping. We are recommending these extensions in the spirit of compromise.”

“They’ve put in a lot of time,” Walter told the council. “After the public meeting there were three (primary concerns): One was expense, two was sustainability and three was snow removal. They’ve done a very commendable job finding answers to those things.”

As proposed, Hofer said, they would not include vegetation and would have a gradual slope and rounded corners while still including elements that would improve the downtown district — safety for pedestrian traffic, the slowing of traffic, zero-grade depth for those with mobility issues and aesthetic appeal.

“What we’ve talked about really doesn’t add much to the cost of your project,” Hofer said, noting the additional cost is estimated at $27,000.

The streetscaping would also include a ribbon of aggregate concrete on the sidewalks on both sides of the street helping tie together the entire business — from the Mr. G’s corner north to Roth Law Office — as well as historic lighting fixtures through that same area. And Korn noted the narrowest width of roadway, from curb extension to curb extension, is the same width as Sixth Street.

Walter said the streetscaping component would send a message.

“This shows a commitment from the city saying that, yes, we are doing this, not only to increase the safety, but the look and feel of our Main Street,” he said. “The design that we have is forward-looking. We’re not going to have another opportunity in our lifetimes.”

How we got here

The Main Street project goes back to 2013 when then-Mayor Sam Sorensen and city council hired Sayre Associates to engineer a rebuild of the roadway from the North County Road to Fifth Street. That study was completed with plans drawn up in two phases, but city officials ultimately chose not to take the next steps.

It wasn’t until Walter took over as mayor that the project got a reboot. With $5.7 million sitting in the bank, the council was urged to spend some of those funds to improve the city and strongly recommended revisiting a new Main Street, particularly since Sayre Associates had already completed an engineering study. While the roadway has been patched and repatched, and while there have been improvements to alleviate drainage concerns north of Railway, the infrastructure is the same as it was when it was first built in 1953.

Here’s a look at the timeline going back to June of 2020.

June 8, 2020: Michael Walter takes the oath of office as mayor; it was 28 years and two weeks after he began his only other term as the city’s highest elected official — at the age of 36.

June 27: Walter urges the city council to spend down its cash reserve — $5.7 million — and said there was no better place to spend it than a dilapidated Main Street, especially since a feasibility study was already on the books. “If we’ve got the money,” he said, “I can’t think of a reason we’re not doing it.”

Nov. 18: The city council learns from John Clem of District III Planning and Development that grant funds could be awarded sometime in 2021 with construction of the project started and completed the following year.

Jan. 6, 2021: The council learns from Korn that the updated cost to rebuild Main Street from North County Road to Fifth Street is $2.65 million and adding Railway Street one block to the west — which city officials had said they were interested in — would add an additional $400,000 to the project. “If we’re going to do something, we need to move in the next couple of months,” Walter said.

Feb. 3: The council votes to spend $220,000 for Sayre Associates’ design of a new Main Street and another $2 million of its own funds for construction of the new roadway. Officials noted the in-house financial commitment could go a long way in securing additional funding. “We want to prove that we’re shovel-ready,” councilor Doug Uecker said — “that we’re committed and both feet are in.”

March 17: The city council gets its first look at a streetscaping plan presented by Sayre Associates that would add landscaping to 12 corners at three intersections stretching from Fifth Street north to Railway. A rendering showed curbs extending into the roadway as well as vegetation that Korn said would increase safety, beauty, but also cost; an estimate, he said, would be forthcoming. City leaders said public input would be important to the design process moving forward.

April 21: A public forum about whether streetscaping should be included in the Main Street project reveals division in the community. Some felt that safety improvements and aesthetic beauty were of benefit while others felt that visibility at intersections, the loss of parking, additional expense and upkeep, and challenges with snow removal were problematic. Korn also reported that streetscaping could cost an additional $6,000 to $14,000 per corner depending on the design. Mayor Walter said he would form a task force to look closely at the issue.

June 15: Freeman City Councilor Lonnie Tjaden proposed asking for an estimate for what it would cost to blacktop the side streets extending one block west and east of the Main Street business district, which the council supported. “If you’ve got a nice looking Main Street and you pull off and it’s just a junk street, it ruins everything,” Tjaden said. “It would be worth getting a price, in my opinion.”

July 8: Several task force meetings and nearly two months later, the city council got a look at a new design that aims to strike a compromise between those in favor of, and those against, streetscaping. Committee member Emily Hofer and Walter both told the council the task force worked hard to find a balance that alleviates concerns while also accomplishes the benefits of the extra touch. The June 15 meeting also included a 6-0 vote to adopt a resolution that commits the city of Freeman to the Main Street project in order to apply for a DOT grant that could amount to $600,000. The timeline shows bids to be let early next year with construction beginning in spring. Korn said the bidding process could include both the Main Street/Railway Street project and also the addition of blacktop on the side streets.

In an interview with The Courier on Monday, Walter says he feels good about how planning for the Main Street project has gone.

“It’s been excellent,” he said. “I think everybody has performed beautifully. We’ve got to get the $600,000 from the DOT; that would be the only thing, but I’m expecting to get it.” Walter said he was very pleased with the work done by the streetscaping committee — “they were marvelous,” he said — and expects the end result will be a strong reflection of the quality of the Freeman community.

“When it’s done, we’re going to have something that everybody will be very proud of,” Walter said.