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Jonestown Borough Council on Feb. 4. heard engineer John Poff’s report on a project that would bring curb bump-outs to the square and two surrounding intersections.
He said costs have gone up from the previously estimated $1.2 million to $1.4 million. Extending the curb an extra five feet could increase that price tag by about $500,000, for a total project cost of around $1.9 million.
The majority of the cost is covered by grants, but a higher price tag means the borough will have to dig deeper into its own pockets moving forward.
Council president Tom Keefer said the project is split into two phases. The first phase includes curb bump-outs and stormwater work at the square and one block east and west, while the second phase would extend the existing curb in the square, cutting down the length of parking spots but giving more sidewalk space.
The borough received a grant of about $1.05 million for phase one of the project and another grant of about $288,000 for phase two. Between both phases, they’ll be about $550,000 short based on current estimates.
Read More: Jonestown receives $1.1 million for crossing improvements along Market St.
“Even if this goes out to bid next year, look at what it went up in the two years since we’ve started this,” Keefer said.
Poff said the increase to $1.4 million was because the initial estimate was based on the idea and old material and labor costs. Now that they have a solid plan, the estimate should be more accurate, he said – but it would still be subject to the bidding process.
“Now we have detailed engineering drawings, and we ran a cost estimate using our current numbers here,” Poff said. “Inflation, everything’s going up. Things have got really expensive.”
The extra $500,000 is because of the curb height along the square, which has to be a minimum of 4 inches to prevent water from flowing backward into the buildings.
“We can’t do that with this grade,” Keefer said. “He’s saying, another half million to tear up these sections and regrade it so he could get the 4-inch curb height that PennDOT wants.”
Council decided not to take any action at the meeting. Keefer said he will go to John Fitzkee with the Lebanon County Planning Department to see if more money is available.
“We’ve had conversations with John, and he’s gone to bat for us with PennDOT officials trying to get us more money,” he said. “We haven’t been successful to date in doing that, so I’m somewhat skeptical that we’re going to get any additional funding.”
However, he noted there are some projects throughout the county that have not panned out, so it’s possible what was earmarked for other construction could be reassigned.
Keefer said he would give Poff further guidance on the borough’s plans once they know if they will have more funds. “I’d say the entire project is up in the air at this point from the feeling I got from council,” he said.
In other business:
- Council unanimously approved Reed’s Locksmith invoice for an alarm monitoring fee for a yearly amount of $468. Keefer said they will look into adding this payment to a list of expenses that don’t need to be approved individually.
- Mayor Joe Quairoli and council decided not to renew the Mayor’s Association membership, which costs $70 per year. He said it was in place before he took over the position, and he receives mail through his membership, but he doesn’t feel like he gets much benefit from it.
Jonestown Borough Council will have its next regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on March 4 at 295 S. Mill St.
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