Daily World story on Town Hall

Daily World’s Jilian Beaudry writes up last night’s meeting:

OCEAN SHORES — Driving through Ocean Shores is like driving on Mars.

The terrain is uneven, bumping drivers and passengers along at 15 mph while trying to avoid running into large orange traffic cones and yellow tape.

“It looks horrendous,” one angry homeowner shouted at a town hall meeting with the city at the Convention Center Wednesday night.

Since 1997, Ocean Shores has been dreaming of a beautiful roundabout with trees and flowers that would create a city center in town at the intersection of West Chance a la Mer and Point Brown Avenue. The roundabout project coincided with the need to repave the two streets to return them to a reasonable condition.

In 2006, the city secured $1.8 million through four Transportation Improvement Board grants for sidewalks, curbs, gutters and street lighting, Public Works Director Ken Lanfear said. The Local Improvement District is footing the bill for asphalt that will cost about $700,000. The city’s water, sewer and stormwater funds will pay for underground work and local cable utilities will cover costs of ducts being installed.

Most of the construction is on Point Brown Avenue, with stretches on Dolphin Avenue and Seahorse Avenue.

The first town hall meeting held on the project was in November 2007, with council meetings in July 2008 and January 2009.

Lanfear said Wednesday the city asked business owners when construction should begin. That feedback and problems with contracts meant the projects didn’t begin until August and won’t finish until mid-November or December.

The construction has ripped up the streets and cut off utilities during the daytime. Business owners are upset.

Leslie Reedy, the executive director of the Ocean Shores Chamber of Commerce, said she is fielding dozens of phone calls each day from the business community.

“We lost September,” Reedy said. “It was nonexistent.”

The month, typically the best for local businesses, saw sales decline 30 percent, according to Reedy.

“Everybody wants a little hope right now,” she said.

At the meeting Wednesday night, about 30 citizens, primarily business owners, had the chance to communicate their concerns to Lanfear and Mayor Dean Bunkers.

They said they are unhappy with the unprofessionalism of flaggers, slow rate of progress, lack of communication from the city, unsatisfying construction work and lack of business.

City Councilman David Creighton, who owns the Sand Castle Drive In on Point Brown Avenue, said Wednesday water at his business was shut off for several hours without notice recently because of the construction.

“If I had known they were going to be doing it, we wouldn’t have opened,” he told the mayor and public works director.

Instead, he had to pay employees while he waited for the water to be turned back on. “To me, that’s an unnecessary loss of revenue,” he said.

Lanfear listened to the concerns and didn’t quibble with any of the residents.

“There have been problems,” Lanfear said. “I have to acknowledge that.”

There have been delays on the highway, equipment breakdowns and problems with staff, he said. One flagger was dismissed and a supervisor was fired.

There is plenty of work still to do. Crossovers need to be finished as well as trimming and cleanup. Concrete work is not set to begin for three or more weeks and the asphalt will not go down until Nov. 1, Lanfear said. The roundabout is expected to be done in mid-November.

In addition to the anger in the business community weighing down on the city, it also has to worry about the weather. If the rains come, the project could be stalled until next year.

“We’re up against the weather,” Lanfear said. “We need to wrap up and get this behind us. This will be a pretty pleasant place next year. But, it’s a long, difficult project to build.”

Lanfear stressed that once the work is complete, the sidewalks will be better for foot traffic and should provide a boost to local businesses.

Reedy said the chamber is working on plans to raise money to recoup business losses.

Next year, it is planning “September in April,” to generate some extra revenue that month. The chamber will run more ads and get businesses to sign on to produce coupon books.

She said she is also looking forward to the finished project and knows the community just has to grin and bear the construction for now.

“There is no progress without pain,” Reedy said.

Lanfear wrote down suggestions from the citizens at the meeting to make life a bit easier. Suggestions included putting the day’s work plan up on the city Web site and having an automated phone message citizens can call for construction information.

“This is something that has been long planned for the city,” Lanfear said. “I’m sorry about the impacts.”