Council President Tyson Klukan and Police Chief/Borough Manager Michael Greenlee outlined improvements that will begin soon in Ford City Borough.
This summer should be a busy time in Ford City as plans are underway for several major projects that will enhance the Borough’s image and accessibility.
Borough Police Chief/Borough Manager Michael Greenlee outlined a project to the trail parking lot at the lower end of Fifth Avenue.
“We got approved to enhance that (lot). We are going to dig more into the hillside, create a bigger lot, more specific parking areas, better paving, and some side spaces near the front. Then from the trail head, we are going to put an ADA ramp onto the trail at that end so the trail is accessible to everybody.”
Greenlee said the improvement to that parking lot should be completed this year.
Council Vice-President Tyson Klukan said that the Borough expects to receive $102,000 per year in Liquid Fuels funding from the State.
“With the amount from this year, we will have over $300,000 in that account, which $145,000 will be pledged toward the ADA sidewalk replacement project for 120 sidewalk corners. It will be a very busy summer,” Klukan said.
Greenlee said he wanted to see street signs updated at the same time the ramps are being installed.
“We are working closely with Gibson-Thomas (engineers) to insure the appropriate workflow of this project. We are also looking for a street sign project that will go in conjunction with that while we are redoing the curbs at the intersections. There will be the opportunity to put the street signs in, or at least the bases, so we can move forward with it as one project. We are working to get some quotes from sign companies so we can move forward. I drive around the borough and we are missing a whole lot of signs.”
Greenlee said seven areas will have streets dug up as they make major repairs to old water lines.
“We are hopeful to get a new grant to address some of the water line issues here in town. We have identified seven areas that we are going to address this year. The list includes: Plum Way off of Route 66, that has had six repairs there in the past two years; Fifth Avenue between 14th Street and 17th Street, and from Fifth Avenue to Third Avenue - we have had two main line breaks and multiple service lines down; Neale Avenue in front of the water treatment plant has had four repairs there to a six-inch pipe; the S-curve on the 600 block between 6th and 7th streets has had two repairs in 2016; Third Avenue between 3rd Street and 5th Street has had two water main repairs there; and on Seventh Avenue extension, there is a two-inch copper feed that services six houses and there is a valve missing; Third Avenue and 7th Street intersection, we have multiple valves that do not work. There are also seven valve replacements that need done and we will look at those as we get through with the water lines.”
The next public meeting of Ford City Borough Council will be held on Monday, March 12 at the Latin-American Club on Third Avenue at 6:30 PM.