Residents and business leaders look over plans for the downtown LeClaire project during a public meeting at LeClaire City Hall. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
By the end of next year, a $5 million project to overhaul and rebuild much of LeClaire’s downtown district will be complete. At least that’s the plan and official schedule for a project centered around revamping about six blocks of North Cody Road between Ewing and Chestnut streets in LeClaire. The Cody Road Phase II […]
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By the end of next year, a $5 million project to overhaul and rebuild much of LeClaire’s downtown district will be complete.At least that’s the plan and official schedule for a project centered around revamping about six blocks of North Cody Road between Ewing and Chestnut streets in LeClaire.The Cody Road Phase II Project will add sidewalks, crosswalks, a riverfront trail, storm sewer system improvements and much more aimed at spurring more development and bringing more businesses to the community.In other words, “add to the charm” of downtown LeClaire in an effort to improve the community, said Jason Stangland, waterfront practice director with the Detroit-based Smith Group, the architectural, engineering and planning firm assist with the Cody Road project.Jason Stangland of the Smith Group presents information on the downtown LeClaire project during a public meeting at LeClaire City Hall. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSONMore than 50 people crowded into the LeClaire City Hall Council Chambers on Wednesday, March 8, for a public meeting to get more details on the project. Mr. Stangland and Leo Foley, city engineer for LeClaire and a project manager with the local engineering firm Veenstra & Kimm, provided many of those details.
Among the details discussed were:
The Cody Street project is scheduled for completion by the end of next year.
About 75% of the cost of the $5 million project will be paid for by a federal Surface Transportation Block Grant.
Construction must start next year in order to receive that grant money.
Project planners “feel very good” about where the planning process is now, Mr. Foley added.LeClaire residents look over improvement plans for the downtown LeClaire project during a public meeting at LeClaire City Hall. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSONMuch of the public meeting was devoted to giving a block-by-block report on the preliminary plans for LeClaire’s Cody Street. Mr. Stangland told the crowd that many property owners, residents and businesspeople in each block – starting with Ewing Street and going to Chestnut Street – wanted differing sidewalks and other features for that specific area.“Our goal is not to rethink everything. …. but to tweak things in the plan,” he told the crowd.Many of those suggested “tweaks” to the plans came during the public comment session of the March 8 meeting.Mr. Stangland referred to that session as “20 minutes of fun” with the public. He later told the QCBJ: “The initial design recommendations were well received due in part to work the design team had done in advance of developing ideas. This included individual and group meetings on a block-by-block level to understand desires, opportunities and concerns. … I would say that coming out of this first meeting, we felt like the biggest concern was about the distribution of sidewalks being shown particularly on the north end of the project area.”He added: “In a couple areas, where we’d shown a sidewalk, residents were concerned about ongoing maintenance for things like snow removal. In another area where we weren’t currently showing a sidewalk, there was interest in having one included in our plans.”Some of the other public concerns coming from the “20 minutes of fun” included: parking concerns for people renting property, flood control and storm sewer management. “You will never have a perfect world as far as storm sewers go. … But we can improve it,” said Mr. Foley said.He added that following the public input, designers can now “start on the real design” work for the Cody Street project.The next big hurdles to advance plans from initial concepts to more detailed planning. “This includes a greater level of engineering to look at exact dimensions and work through technical aspects of the project that take it from concept to something that works with real-world topography and conditions. We expect to be able to share more detailed plans late April at this point,” added Mr. Stangland.
Here is the proposed scheduled for the Cody Road project:
Preliminary design to be done by April 14.
Phase 2 plan public meeting by May 31.
Preliminary plans to the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) by Aug. 16.
Check plans by Sept. 1.
Final plans to IDOT by Oct. 19.
Letting date by Jan. 19, 2024.
Project construction to start March 1, 2024, and be complete by Dec. 30, 2024.
