Holts Summit aldermen vote to extend sidewalk project

$290,000 sidewalk set on West Simon Blvd.

The Holts Summit Board of Aldermen Monday gave final approval to an ordinance accepting a $290,000 federal grant to build a sidewalk and a crosswalk with electric signals along West Simon Boulevard in Holts Summit.

City Administrator Brian Crane said the 80-20 federal grant, which is administered by the state of Missouri, requires the city of Holts Summit to pay about $72,000 of the project costing $360,000.

The project would extend the current sidewalk an additional 800 feet along the north side of West Simon Boulevard from The Print Shop eastward to North Summit Drive.

A crosswalk with electric "walk-don't walk" signals will extend the sidewalk south across West Simon Boulevard to connect with the newly completed 1,100-foot sidewalk along the west side of South Summit Drive from North Elementary School northward ending at the intersection of South Summit Drive and West Simon Boulevard.

The West Simon Boulevard sidewalk will connect with the existing sidewalk starting at The Print Shop extending past Moser's Grocery westward to Greenway Drive.

Crane said the city plans to extend the sidewalk northward from that point sometime in the future to nearby subdivisions that already have sidewalks.

"This means youngsters would have a sidewalk all the way from their subdivision to the school," Crane said. He said the city also would like eventually to extend sidewalks from residential areas along North Summit Drive to connect with South Summit Drive that already has sidewalks to North School.

In 2007 a grant was secured to help pay for a sidewalk, curb, gutter and utilities leading from the Post Office to North Elementary School along the east side of South Summit Drive. Then in 2010 another grant was obtained to rebuild curb and gutter and a new sidewalk from North Elementary School to West Simon Boulevard along the north side of South Summit Drive.

The ordinance approved Monday night authorizes the mayor to enter into a contract with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department to build the $360,000 West Simon Boulevard project.

Crane said the latest sidewalk extension project means the city of Holts Summit has received $1.3 million in federal grants since 2007 and cost the city only about $200,000 for its share of the work.

The latest project along West Simon Boulevard will be planned this summer and construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2014.

Crane said attorneys representing the city of Holts Summit and the YMCA of Callaway County are working on a proposed contract between the two entities that would permit construction of a new $475,000 YMCA complex that would include renovations of the current Civic Center at Holts Summit in Greenway Park and a new 6,000-square-foot YMCA exercise facility. The proposed contract also would lease the use of some city park facilities for YMCA recreational programs. The parks would remain as public use facilities and existing Optimist Club softball and volleyball leagues would continue.

"No action can be taken by the city on the YMCA proposal until after contract details are ironed out by attorneys for both the city and the YMCA," Crane said.

During Monday night's aldermen meeting, Mayor Lucas Fitzpatrick asked each board member for the feedback they had received since a public forum last month on the YMCA proposal.

All agreed nearly everyone is excited about the prospect of an indoor exercise facility in the city.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.