Dayton is gearing up for a busy stretch of public works projects, and city council members heard updates on long-awaited capital improvements at their July meeting.
Mike Yeager, of Compass Infrastructure Group, presented a summary of projects, including Riverfront Commons, city street resurfacing and water management efforts.
Dayton received three large federal grants covering 80% of the costs of the major projects. The city has been waiting for the funds to work their way through the state system. Yeager said the time is finally near, and the money will soon be available to proceed with phases two and three of the Riverfront Commons project as well as a project on Dayton Pike.
Riverfront Commons projects underway
Yeager’s firm took over phase two of the Riverfront Commons project from another company. Originally, it had come in over budget, he said.
“One of the first things we started to work on was redesigning that after talking with contractors to figure out why those prices were so high and then at the same time, we started on phase three using those lessons from phase two to get that to where it needed to be,” Yeager said.
Yeager added that they are now ready to proceed with plans and bid documents for both phases, collectively known as the Riverfront Commons River’s Edge Hiking and Biking Trail.
The council voted to authorize Mayor Ben Baker to enter into an agreement with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to construct phases two and three in the amount not to exceed $2,013,904. Eighty percent of the funds will come from a federal SNK grant and 20% from the city’s capital improvement fund for fiscal year 2025-2026.
SNK grants are funded by federal dollars specifically allocated for transportation projects in Northern Kentucky through OKI (the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments).
The next step will be for Frankfort to sign off, and then the engineers can send out the bids. Yeager expects, if all goes according to plan, to begin construction in the fall with an aim to complete in the spring.
Upcoming Riverfront Commons projects
Yeager noted that the city had applied for two additional federal SNK grants related to Riverfront Commons. These are part of the next grant cycle, and officials will hear back on those in October.
One grant would be used to renovate the upper trail on the levee, resurfacing, widening and extending it down closer to Mary Ingles Highway, Yeager said. The second would be used to connect the upper trail to the lower trail at the Berry Street Connector.
He noted that SNK grants are highly competitive. Applications from across the state totaled about $19 million, and only $7 million is available. The hope is that at least part of the connectivity projects will receive the necessary funding. He added that the projects will be designed to be ADA accessible.
Road resurfacing
Yeager noted good news on resurfacing. Dayton has a joint resurfacing contract with Bellevue on roads shared by both cities, which helps keep costs down. The city also prioritized the list of streets in case the budget didn’t permit all of them. The budget did not come in high, so all the streets identified made it into the project, he said.
“O’Fallon, between Sixth and Ninth is included,” Yeager said. “The city boundary between Bellevue and Dayton is right down the middle. That’s in there also, and it’s split right down the middle, so that will be done as well with a 50-50 match on the costs.”
He pointed out the Kentucky Route 8x reroute. City officials want to relocate 8x away from the school area, considering the new stadium and expected increased traffic.
Route 8X is a short change in the routing of Kentucky 8 that would reroute the road off Clay Street and onto a parallel street, Main. In Dayton, the old route went along 4th Avenue to Clay Street to 6th Avenue, passing 34 homes. The new 8x would bring the route from 4th to Main Street to 6th Street, passing only 25 homes.
Council approved a resolution to authorize the mayor to enter into contracts with Eaton Asphalt (for $341,303) for the street repaving work and Hendy Construction (for $91,674) for construction of ADA ramps on those streets. Funding is to come from the Municipal Road Aid Fund and the city’s Capital Spending Fund.
Dayton Pike water issues
A significant sinkhole recently opened up on Dayton Pike. The Northern Kentucky Water District has been dealing with problems on the pike for some time now, Yeager said. They are expected to begin work on these issues in a few weeks.
The water issues on the street have affected timing for the city’s sidewalks project, he said.
“We wanted to make sure the water district came in and fixed their issues, so that we didn’t come in and build new infrastructure and then have them come in…So that’s kind of pushed this project back a little bit, but I think in the end, it was the right way to do it and get everything done correctly,” Yeager explained.
The water main work is scheduled to begin in August and is expected to take approximately two months to complete. Yeager said they’re pushing for the sidewalk project to be ready as soon as the water main work is completed, so it can begin immediately.
Yeager said that they are working closely with the water district the ensure the project has a “clear and safe detour route, and that we’ve got plenty of notice to get out to the residents.”
He noted some homes along Dayton Pike have steep driveways, so city workers will need to regrade some of the driveways as well. Residents can expect to hear from the city requesting temporary easements so that workers can access their properties to repair the driveways.
Grant Park stormwater project
The city is collaborating with the homeowners association in Grant Park to address water issues in the area. Sump pumps were not tied in, and groundwater had been pumping up out into the street. In the winter months, this created an “ice skating rink” out there, Yeager said.
The city didn’t do the whole street, but they put in a new piping system and installed underdrains in a small section of the road to see if it would help the situation. Yeager reported it did.
Seventh Avenue hill slide
The city took a constructive approach to funding work to address land-sliding issues on Seventh Avenue.
“With the municipal road aid, there’s a couple different ways you can take the money. You can either get a set amount, or you can take a little bit of lesser amount, and then you’re eligible for emergency funds,” Yeager said. “We knew this was coming up, so we took that lesser amount, and then were able to use that to get the money needed to do the design and geo tech investigation and do the retaining wall.”
That work was paid for with the emergency funds, but more is needed. It’s expected to be a $500,000 construction project, so the city is “knocking on doors” looking for additional funding.
“We’re thinking about CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] funding. We’re talking to elected officials, looking for any source of revenue we can find to get that. But it’s ready to go once we find the funding,” he said.
Water, water everywhere
The city also has a stormwater project for Seventh Avenue. It involves a proposed development on the west end of the street. There is a valley there that makes a 90-degree turn, said Yeager. The developer plans a retention basin behind the property.
“Originally, we had looked at putting in some new inlets and piping and tying into the combined sewer system,” Yeager said. “Now that we know they’re putting in a retention basin, we can put in new inlets and pipes straight to their retention.”
Two new storm inlets and piping are also planned for Walnut Street. Yeager noted significant flooding at Third and Walnut streets. The project is also funded with a grant from SD1.
Yeager noted that SD1 has recently changed some of its grant criteria. Normally, it would be a 50-50 match, but changes may make it possible for SD1 to cover 100% of the costs.
Riverpointe Condominiums also experiences water issues, particularly in the winter, resulting in significant icing. Plans are in place to install a new storm inlet in the street and a yard drain in one of the yards.
Gil Lynn Park improvements
Yeager reported quotes for adding four pickleball courts came in low and so the city was able to add resurfacing to the project as well. The project began earlier this month with excavation.
Once the surface is installed, it takes another four to five weeks before the final coating can be applied. The plan, he said, is to stripe the basketball courts towards the end of this month and return to paint the pickleball courts a month after that.
Also at the meeting, the city council voted to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Miracle of Kentucky and Tennessee Playgrounds in the amount of $200,000 for new playground equipment at Gil Lynn Park. Half of the cost will be covered by the city park tax and capital improvement funds, and the other half will be contributed by the Dayton Independent Public Schools.