Parking lot rebuild underway downtown
T-R PHOTO BY JOE FISHER — Alliant Energy is relocating underground utility lines located under a parking lot on S. First Street and W. Church Street downtown. The lot will soon be rebuilt with permeable brick pavers.
An Alliant Energy crew digs up underground utility lines in a parking lot on S. First Street and W. Church Street Thursday. Alliant Energy is relocating the utility lines before the city completes a rebuild of the parking lot in the spring.
T-R PHOTO BY JOE FISHER — Alliant Energy is relocating underground utility lines located under a parking lot on S. First Street and W. Church Street downtown. The lot will soon be rebuilt with permeable brick pavers.
An Alliant Energy crew digs up underground utility lines in a parking lot on S. First Street and W. Church Street Thursday. Alliant Energy is relocating the utility lines before the city completes a rebuild of the parking lot in the spring.
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Alliant Energy is relocating underground utilities in a parking lot on South First Street and West Church Street in preparation of the city rebuilding the lot.
The parking lot south of the Tremont on Main and west of United Bank and Trust is being rebuilt with porous brick pavers. Before construction may begin, Alliant must relocate underground gas and electrical lines which feed the surrounding businesses.
"The city project was slated to be completed this fall, but was delayed when Alliant could not accomplish these relocations due to the derecho," said Justin Nickel, Marshalltown public works director. "Due to these delays, the city has extended the parking lot project until spring 2021."
The lot is made up of three parcels of land owned by the city which span three-quarters of an acre. Only about one-third of the lot is fenced off and being worked on currently but the entire lot will be rebuilt.
FOX Engineering of Ames designed to project in coordination with the city and Con-Struct Inc. is the contractor. The contract for the city's portion of construction is $964,271.50.
The city is using the Sponsored Project through the State Revolving Fund to help fund the project, which allows the city to borrow $290,000 at a reduced interest rate. The city also received a $100,000 water quality grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
"The city is paying for the remainder of the cost with borrowed money which will be repaid with storm water fees that are collected from each parcel of land within the city," Nickel said.
The permeable brick pavers used on the lot will allow rain water to be absorbed into the ground.
"The intent is to both capture the storm water and to improve the water quality of the storm runoff with filters under the pavement," Nickel said. "The parking lot was at the end of its useful life and suffered deterioration after use as a collection point for debris after the 2018 tornado."
Steve Soupir, project manager for FOX Engineering, said porous brick surfaces have been implemented as part of water quality initiatives in many communities throughout Iowa, including at Ames City Hall.
"There were not really any stormwater intakes in the parking lot at all. It was in need of some improvements in that area anyway," Soupir said. "The price has come down on these pavers. They've made them faster to install. It's more competitive to use them in these types of situations. Dubuque used them for a lot of alleys they're resurfacing."
Matt Jensen, vice president of Con-Struct in Marshalltown, said the construction phase of the project is scheduled to begin in the spring.
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Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611
or jfisher@timesrepublican.com