Several public works improvements coming to city council

At the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday evening by the members of the Homer City Council, Public Works Director Jan Keiser brought some positive news about an upcoming water project.
“In the design of the Tasmania Court water system, there evidently is a water tank that will go in this neighborhood. It's about a million gallon water tank that will serve that entire part of town. And the water tank itself, and part of the line to serve that tank has already been designed,” she said. “Evidently the city received a grant some years ago to design that tank. So it's it's the tank itself is all ready to go.”
 But that wasn’t all. As it turns out, the water main is designed with some energy-generating features.
“An interesting part of the tank is that the waterline to the tank has a mini generator, mini turbine in the line so that it can take advantage of the energy coming down through the pipe, as it goes into the tank,” she said.
Later, during its regular meeting, the city council introduced a draw from the city’s water and sewer fund to pay for design and construction.
“What this additional $88,000 does, is it provides the installation of some of a water line, the 12 inch water main that would serve this tank. So that in the future, when the tank is built, the supply line will already be partially in place,” Keiser said. “Evidently, there is a piece of the line that was added as part of the Shelford Water Assessment District and the Tasmanian Water Assessment District has the opportunity to extend it a little bit farther to the tank. And that's what this $88,000 will do.”
A public hearing and final vote on authorizing the funds will come at the council’s March 8 meeting.
Likewise, a draw of nearly $13,000 from the city’s HART Road Fund was introduced as well. Keiser said it would provide ADA-approved access to Bayview Park as part of the Main Street sidewalk project.
“The Bayview Park does not currently have acceptable ADA access, uh, which is a shame because it's the one that's designed for small children with strollers and, and, uh, it's an a neighborhood park. So we would like to provide ADA access to it that was identified in the ADA transition plan. We can do that as part of the Main Street Project, but we need a little extra design to accommodate the storm drain, to fill in that big, deep ditch and do the regrading that would be required,” she said. “And this money would provide the engineering for that purpose. And we highly recommend that we do that. There is no better time to wrap that into this project and, and fill in that deep hole that fronts the east side of that park.”
Funding for several other public works projects will also get public hearings at the March 8 Homer City Council meeting, which will be broadcast live on KBBI.