Street Improvements Planned for Lakewood Area
Feb. 24, 2021 - During the Feb. 2 City Commission meeting, Planning & Engineering Director Justin Froseth presented a street improvement project proposal for the Lakewood area of Mandan.
This project area includes streets from 40th Ave SE to the Missouri River and from Memorial Highway to Lakewood Dr SE and Captain Marsh Dr from Marina Rd SE to the intersection of Captain Leach Dr.
The majority of work will be a chip seal to give new life to many of the streets that are in fair to good condition. However, there are some streets that need to be reconstructed. Those areas have been separated from the rest and designated as “divisions” of reconstruction:
- Division 2: Bayside Dr from 46th Ave SE to 29th St SE & North Shore Loop SE from Bayside Dr to 29th St S
- Division 3: 21st St SE from 40th Ave SE to Shoal Loop SE
- Division 4: Borden Harbor from Southbay Dr SE to Harbor Trail SE
- Division 5: 46th Ave SE from McKenzie Dr SE to 31st St SE
The approach to special assessments for this district is consistent with the City’s policy and past approaches for similar projects. The total project cost will be divided into commercial and residential categories. Staff will allocate costs by size for commercial lots. For residential properties, the total amount of chip seal costs and division five costs (because 46th Ave SE is classified as a collector street) will be divided among all the residential properties receiving chip seal only so that each is assessed an equal amount.
As for the reconstruction piece, properties directly adjacent to improvements in divisions two through four will be assessed only the reconstruction cost to improve those streets. This will make those divisions’ assessments higher than the typical property within the street improvement district that will only see the cost to chip seal plus a small amount of reconstruction on the collector portion of 46th Ave SE.
The total cost for the improvement district is estimated at $4.3 million. Commissioners said they would like to see a portion of the reconstruction cost bought down with Municipal Infrastructure funds, also known as Prairie Dog funds, like recent street improvement projects. However, the City has exhausted the Municipal Infrastructure funds and no additional funding sources have been identified to buy-down this project at this time.
The Engineering and Planning Department mailed letters at the end of February to property owners in the district, a process not required by state law, but that provides transparency. Property owners in the district may submit written letters of protest to the City Administrator by 4:30 p.m. on March 8. The City Commission will determine sufficiency of protests during its March 16 meeting. If approved, the project will begin this construction season.