BERLIN – Municipal officials are exploring the possibility of paving three Berlin streets and replacing the walking path in Stephen Decatur Park with a surplus in highway user revenues.
With the news that the town would receive $114,000 more than it budgeted in highway user revenues from the state, officials this week talked about paving Stevenson Lane, the east section of Graham Avenue and Decatur Street. Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood said replacing the deteriorating path in Stephen Decatur Park could be tied into the paving projects.
“I think this really needs to be done from a safety perspective,” he said.
Fleetwood told the Berlin Town Council Monday that revised estimates from the state set the town’s share of highway user revenues at $227,000 rather than the $113,000 the town had budgeted. Though the town already spent what was initially budgeted on its new street sweeper, the revised estimate means Berlin will receive an additional $114,000. Fleetwood said he recommended using that money to pave the streets next slated for improvements—Stevenson Lane, the east section of Graham Avenue and Decatur Street. He said that was expected to cost not quite $100,000.
Replacing the existing walking path at Stephen Decatur Park with asphalt would cost approximately $80,000. Photo by Charlene Sharpe
He said whatever funding was left over could be used to help pay for replacement of the walking path at Stephen Decatur Park. Though replacing it in kind would cost more than $400,000, Fleetwood said it could be replaced with asphalt for roughly $80,000. He said whatever wasn’t covered by highway user revenues could come from the town’s general impact fee fund, which currently contains about $800,000.
“I firmly believe that park is utilized by all if not most of the citizens in this town,” he said.
The condition of the existing scrap tire walking path, built in 2009, has been discussed in the past but there hasn’t been funding to repair it, according to Deputy Town Administrator Mary Bohlen.
“Obviously it’d be desirable to repair it in kind but that is just not practical,” Bohlen said. “As it turned out when the pathway was originally installed it was found it should not have been installed this far north. The freezing and thawing is what has caused problems over the years. We were an experiment.”
When asked if replacing the path with asphalt would lead to drainage issues, Fleetwood said the existing path was impervious, just as the asphalt would be.
With consensus from the council, Mayor Zack Tyndall said staff would draft a request for proposals for the paving to present to the council next month.
