At their July meeting, city council members received updates on long-awaited capital improvements as Dayton prepares for a busy stretch of public works projects.
Compass Infrastructure Group’s Mike Yeager gave an overview of the projects, which included water management initiatives, city street resurfacing, and Riverfront Commons.
Three sizable federal grants were awarded to Dayton, which covered 80% of the key projects’ expenses. In the meantime, the city has been waiting for the money to pass through the state system. According to Yeager, the time is finally approaching and funds will soon be available to move on with the Dayton Pike project and phases two and three of the Riverfront Commons project.
Riverfront Commons projects underway
Another company relinquished phase two of the Riverfront Commons project to Yeager’s group. “It had initially gone over budget,” he remarked.
After speaking with contractors to determine why those prices were so high, one of the first things we worked on was redesigning that. At the same time, we began phase three, applying the lessons learned from phase two to bring that to its proper state, Yeager said.
Plans and bid paperwork for both phases, which together make up the Riverfront Commons River’s Edge Hiking and Biking Trail, are now prepared to move forward, Yeager continued.
In a vote, the council approved Mayor Ben Baker’s request to contract with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to build phases two and three for a maximum of $2,013,904. The city’s capital improvement budget for fiscal year 2025–2026 will provide 20% of the funding, with the remaining 80% coming from a federal SNK grant.
Federal funds designated for Northern Kentucky transportation projects through OKI (the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments) provide funding for SNK awards.
Frankfort’s approval will be required next, after which the engineers can submit the proposals. If everything goes as planned, Yeager anticipates starting construction in the fall and finishing in the spring.
Upcoming Riverfront Commons projects
Yeager pointed out that the city had submitted applications for two more federal SNK awards for Riverfront Commons. In October, officials will get feedback on these, which are a component of the upcoming award cycle.
One grant would be used to renovate the upper trail on the levee, resurfacing, widening and extending it down closer to Mary Ingles Highway, Yeager said. The second would be used to connect the upper trail to the lower trail at the Berry Street Connector.
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SNK awards are very competitive, he said. Only $7 million is available out of around $19 million in applications received from all throughout the state. It is hoped that the required cash would be allocated to at least some of the connectivity projects. The projects would be made ADA accessible, he continued.
Road resurfacing
Yeager reported positive resurfacing news. In order to keep expenses down, Dayton and Bellevue have a joint resurfacing contract on roads that both cities share. In the event that the budget did not allow for all of the streets on the list, the city also gave them priority. According to him, all of the streets that were specified were included in the project because the budget was not very expensive.
According to Yeager, O Fallon is included between Sixth and Ninth. Located directly in the center of Bellevue and Dayton is the city boundary. That is included as well, and as it is evenly distributed, it will likewise be completed with a 50/50 cost match.
He indicated the reroute of Kentucky Route 8x. Because of the new stadium and the anticipated increase in traffic, city officials wish to move eight times farther away from the school area.
path 8X is a brief alteration to Kentucky 8’s path that would divert traffic from Clay highway to Main, a parallel highway. The ancient route in Dayton passed 34 residences as it traveled from 4th Avenue to Clay Street to 6th Avenue. Only 25 residences would be crossed on the route from 4th to Main Street to 6th Street with the new 8x.
The council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign contracts with Hendy Construction (for $91,674) to build ADA ramps on those streets and Eaton Asphalt (for $341,303) to resurface the streets. The city’s Capital Spending Fund and the Municipal Road Aid Fund will provide the funding.
Dayton Pike water issues
Recently, a large sinkhole appeared on Dayton Pike. According to Yeager, issues on the pike have been plaguing the Northern Kentucky Water District for a while. In a few weeks, they should start working on these problems.
According to him, the city’s sidewalk project’s timeline has been impacted by the street’s water problems.
Instead of coming in and building new infrastructure and then having the water district come in, we wanted to make sure they came in and solved their problems. “I think it was the right way to do it and get everything done correctly in the end,” Yeager said, adding that it had somewhat delayed the project.
The construction of the water main is anticipated to start in August and be finished in about two months. Yeager stated that in order for the sidewalk project to start right away, they are working to get it ready as soon as the water main work is finished.
Yeager stated that they are collaborating closely with the water department to guarantee that the project has a safe and unobstructed detour route and that we have enough notice to inform the locals.
He pointed out that city workers will also need to regrade some of the steep roads on some of the residences along Dayton Pike. The city will likely contact residents to request temporary easements so that workmen can enter their homes and fix the driveways.
Grant Park stormwater project
To solve the water problems in Grant Park, the city is working with the homeowners association. Groundwater has been pumping up onto the street because sump pumps were not connected. According to Yeager, this resulted in the creation of an ice skating rink throughout the winter.
In an attempt to improve the problem, the city installed underdrains and a new plumbing system in a limited portion of the road, but not the entire street. According to Yeager, it did.
Seventh Avenue hill slide
The city funded efforts to fix Seventh Avenue’s land-sliding problems in a positive way.
You can get the money from the municipal road aid in a few different methods. According to Yeager, you can receive a fixed sum or a smaller portion, in which case you would still be qualified for emergency cash. Knowing this was going to happen, we took that smaller sum and used it to obtain the funds required for the retaining wall, design, and geotechnical investigation.
The emergency money were used to pay for that work, but more is required. The city is pounding on doors in search of more financing for the anticipated $500,000 construction project.
We re thinking about CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] funding. In order to obtain it, we are speaking with elected officials and searching for every available funding source. “But once we find the funding, it’s ready to go,” he remarked.
Water, water everywhere
The city also has a stormwater project for Seventh Avenue. It has to do with a planned development on the street’s west end. According to Yeager, there is a valley there that turns 90 degrees. Behind the land, the developer intends to create a retention basin.
According to Yeager, at first we had considered installing some additional inlets, plumbing, and connecting to the combined sewer system. Now that we know they re putting in a retention basin, we can put in new inlets and pipes straight to their retention.
Two new storm inlets and piping are also planned for Walnut Street. Yeager noted significant flooding at Third and Walnut streets. The project is also funded with a grant from SD1.
Yeager noted that SD1 has recently changed some of its grant criteria. Normally, it would be a 50-50 match, but changes may make it possible for SD1 to cover 100% of the costs.
Riverpointe Condominiums also experiences water issues, particularly in the winter, resulting in significant icing. Plans are in place to install a new storm inlet in the street and a yard drain in one of the yards.
Gil Lynn Park improvements
Yeager reported quotes for adding four pickleball courts came in low and so the city was able to add resurfacing to the project as well. The project began earlier this month with excavation.
Once the surface is installed, it takes another four to five weeks before the final coating can be applied. The plan, he said, is to stripe the basketball courts towards the end of this month and return to paint the pickleball courts a month after that.
Also at the meeting, the city council voted to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Miracle of Kentucky and Tennessee Playgrounds in the amount of $200,000 for new playground equipment at Gil Lynn Park. Half of the cost will be covered by the city park tax and capital improvement funds, and the other half will be contributed by the Dayton Independent Public Schools.
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