More on the School grant

After Monday night’s busy City Council meeting, I asked Ken Lanfear when he expected the $635,000 grant that the city landed for School Safety to become concrete — literally, in terms of sidewalks. The Public Works director said he does not see construction before 2010, probably next summer. If funding comes in for the Roundabout/sidewalks project, Lanfear will be a very busy man, potentially overseeing four major projects: 1) The $6 million water treatment plant; 2) the final phase of the Street LID; 3) Roundabout/Chance a la Mer sidewalks and lighting; and 4) the Safe Routes to Schools (see below, for details). Oh, and let’s not forget that Illahee/Oyehut sewer line project . . .

Earlier, from Mayor Dean Bunkers: The $635K is State grant money for Safe Routes to Schools. The City applied for this grant last year.  This grant provides engineering and funding to construct a sidewalk on the south of State Route 115, and crosswalks with school zone flashers. Also this grant will fund a sidewalk/bike path from JK Lewis to Ocean Lake Way along the east side of PT Brown. There are several other smaller items also, but it is best to wait for the State to engineer the project for more clarity.