Hendersonville Standard
HENDERSONVILLE WEATHER

City unveils $10M road paving list




Mark SkidmoreJeff Hawkins

Mark SkidmoreJeff Hawkins

Hendersonville’s Public Works Department has unveiled their list to spend $10 million to pave 50 miles of Hendersonville roads over the next three years.

The plan, divided into increments of three months, six months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months and 36 months, was a response to a request by Ward 1 Alderman Peg Petrelli.

In the next three months, which will finish out the fiscal year, the City will spend $742, 794 to pave 3.07 miles. Roads on the plan in the next three months include Bluegrass Circle, Bonita Parkway, Gates Drive, Glen Oak Court, Glen Oak Boulevard, Iris Drive, William Shy Drive, and Imperial Boulevard.

Paving budget

There is enough money left in this year’s budget to pave these roads, said Marshal Boyd, public works director. If the paving part of the budget received more money, everything would move up in the list, he said.

Roughly the same amount of road will be paved in each ward over the next three years, ranging from 8 miles in Ward 4 to 8.86 miles in Ward 5.

In order to accomplish this plan, BOMA will need to budget $2.8 million per year toward paving — $2.5 million will go toward paving, and the remaining $300,000 will be budgeted for road rehab. Only around $2 million was budgeted for paving this fiscal year.

There is a Public Works Committee meeting Thursday night to discuss an ordinance to designate more money for paving this year, according to Ward 1 Alderman Mark Skidmore. An ordinance to move $500,000 to the paving budget was voted down in February with some aldermen saying they would be more supportive of adding new monies once the current paving budget was spent.

Plan updates

Boyd said the plan will be in constant evaluation and will probably be updated every few months.

“One of the reasons why we haven’t done a long-term plan like this before is because of how much it can change,” Boyd said. “We’ll continue to evaluate every few months to make sure we’re on track.”

Over the course of a year, Boyd said, roads can change significantly based on the weather conditions.

“This is not solid in concrete,” Skidmore reminded the Public Works Committee. “It is subject to change.”

Skidmore, chairman of the Public Works Committee, reminded the committee that due to the varying deterioration levels, some streets may have to be paved out of order. He said that the City would not be able to make a permanent list.

Skidmore said that he anticipates there being changes to the list due to the recent ice and floods in Hendersonville.

Boyd said his department had already planned through the spring and was working on the fall list when they were asked to make this long-term plan. Boyd already sends these lists to the aldermen.

The plans are not formally approved or adopted by BOMA. Boyd says his staff prepares a plan, reviews it with the mayor and presents it to the Public Works Committee for their information.

“I’m happy to see the plan,” said Petrelli. “We’ve spent a lot of money over the last couple of years, and all the allocated money hasn’t been spent. I just wanted to have some expectations of understanding where we were at with the list that we paid for in 2016.”

Petrelli is referring to a paving study that graded the roads in Hendersonville based on their condition. Public works staff uses the study to help prioritize which roads should be paved.

Ward 3 Alderman Arlene Cunningham has also requested that the department add specific costs to each road in the plan.

Boyd said he needs to talk with Mayor Jamie Clary about whether the paving plan will be available to the public on the City’s website due to the list being more of a living document.

“I just want to reiterate that it is subject to change depending on conditions,” Boyd said.

Citizens can reach out to their alderman to see the list.

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