Rountree residents are dealing with disruption of utility service and traffic, as well as the loss of some mature trees, as part of a major upgrade to gas and water lines in the area.
City Utilities is updatomg natural gas and water lines that are up to a century old in some places as part of a major, $2 million project to upgrade a total of about two miles of pipes.
The project started in December 2017 and will take about six months to complete by a contractor. The project will be done in five phases, with only two phases active at any one time. Much of the work will take place along Delaware from Cherry to Grand, and along Madison from Kentwood to Fremont, however, these are not the only areas that will be affected.
PHASE 1 – Work will be done on Madison (on south side) from Kentwood to Fremont; and on Fremont, from Madison to Monroe. Details about trees along the south side of Madison:
- Delaware, west to alley – No tree removal. Will most likely be cut back, however.
- Alley to SE corner of Madison and Weller – All trees removed.
- Weller, west to alley – All trees removed.
- Alley to Pickwick – All trees removed.
- Pickwick, west to alley – Landscaping remains. Second tree west of Pickwick remains, all others removed.
- Alley to Fremont – All trees removed.
- Also, on the east side of Fremont from Madison north to Monroe – All trees removed.
PHASE 2 – Madison to Cherry on Delaware, with Monroe and Monroe Terrace.
PHASE 3 – Madison to Grand, on Delaware.
PHASE 4 – Grand to Catalpa on Delaware as well as Catalpa, Weller to Kentwood.
PHASE 5 – Madison to Grand on Fremont.
CU requires contractors to notify residents 24 hours in advance of any work that will take home utilities out of commission. Most services will be out for about a few hours, at most. If they are replacing a driveway approach, there is a 48-hour required notice. They will be replacing all gas lines up to the meter. The water lines will be replaced up to the connecting line to the house.
When it comes to replacing pipes in older neighborhoods, there’s not a lot of space to place the new pipes, CU says. Ideally, they are placed under greenspace. CU generally avoids the roadway due to the added cost and disruption of traffic. The next best option is generally the sidewalk. (Wherever a four-foot wide sidewalk is torn up, a five-foot sidewalk will be put in; and ramps will be made ADA compliant.) If open greenspace and sidewalk aren’t an option, then at times trees have to be taken out. Sometimes pipes can be bored under the tree, but this is not ideal because of roots and because the lines are difficult to reach for servicing in the future. A few trees will be bored under during this project. But several mature trees will be taken out where 16-inch lines are going in along Madison, mostly between Weller and Pickwick on the south side. All trees are in the public right-of-way and are city owned, not privately owned. But CU will make an effort to contact nearby homeowners. Notices about this could start to go out any time.
In addition to cost and traffic flow, CU says there is another reason why lines cannot be laid under the roadway on Madison: there is a sewer line right down the middle of Madison, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources requires water lines to be a minimum of 10 feet away from sewer lines.
It’s tough to lose trees, but there’s a chance for new plantings coming up next year. At RNA’s September meeting, we heard from Troy Powell, who runs the City’s Neighborwoods Program. This program plants trees in the right-of-way at no cost to homeowners. Each tree must be permitted by the homeowner, however, who then signs a contract committing to water the tree for three years.
Rountree participated in this program in the past and planted about 90 trees in the neighborhood. Now the City wants to engage Rountree once again. Planting would happen starting in the fall, from October through April, 2019. Neighborwoods will be looking for homeowners who want to participate, and ideally the contracts would be firmed up by about June 1.
RNA volunteer Nancy Evans offered to be a liaison for Neighborwoods, and to work with CU on communicating its plans to the neighborhood. Nancy will be playing a crucial role, as these two issues have an obvious and critical intersection.
Nancy and the RNA board are committed to helping communicate what, when, and where the work will occur on the CU project in coming months. Neighbors can contact Nancy Evans with questions via email at: n.c.evans2014@gmail.com. You can also download a CU brochure about the process which includes FAQs.