Princeton moves forward with street and water plant projects

PRINCETON — The Princeton City Council is going forward with about $800,000 worth of street work in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

At Monday's meeting, the city council adopted an ordinance approving the borrowing of $820,000 from Citizens First National Bank for street improvement projects. The interest rate on the loan is 4.2 percent. The loan will be repaid from a portion of Motor Fuel Tax funds.

On Tuesday, Princeton City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said the project will cover 19 streets, or sections of streets. For instance, Lora Street in Bird Haven North will be redone in their entirety, while other streets like Euclid Avenue will have sections redone. Some of the work will just include overlay work; other streets will have more extensive work done. The entire project is expected to cost $823,000.

Fiegenschuh said the city decided to go ahead with the large project rather than continue to spread the work out through a number of years. The 19 street project is at least double what is typically accomplished annually in previous years. It's cheaper in the long run to do the large project rather than to spread the work out through several years, he said.

Construction should hopefully begin late summer or early fall, with all the major work completed before winter, Fiegenschuh said. The proposed street work will complete the city's 10-year plan for street work. Another 10-year list will be completed to focus on other needed street repairs in the cityd.

Also at Monday's meeting, the city council conducted a public hearing on a $21.6 million project for the Princeton Water Treatment Plant. The total project would cover several different items, including, in part, new wells, a sludge lagoon and the construction of a new four MGD (million gallons per day) water treatment plant. No one from the public had any comments at Monday's hearing.

On Wednesday, Superintendent of Water Mike Eggers said Phase 1 of the project would include new wells, a sludge lagoon, backwash lagoons, a new 1.5 million gallon water storage tank mixer at the new water tower site, and the rehabilitation of the existing 150,000 gallon storage tank behind the current water treatment plant. The cost of Phase 1 is about $4 million.

However, the city has submitted a loan application for the entire $21.6 million project to be funded through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Eggers said. The IEPA loan would be paid back during a 20-year time period, with 2.5 percent interest.

In a letter received by Eggers, the IEPA stated it has reviewed the city's plan and agrees the city's findings are technically appropriate and cost effective.

Eggers said he has also applied for federal stimulus money, which is administered by the IEPA. The available stimulus money could be as much as $5 million.

Hopefully, the city will hear from the IEPA within the next month as to what funds it will receive, Eggers said.

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