Town moving forward with street paving project

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SILVERHILL, Alabama — The Silverhill Town Council agreed to move forward at its meeting March 2 looking into the feasibility of paving all of the town-maintained streets.

After announcing at its Jan. 21 meeting that the town received a $250,000 Rebuild Alabama Grant for road resurfacing in 2020, council members discussed what it would take to repave all the streets under town maintenance.

Alan Killen with Civil Southeast addressed council members Feb. 3, reiterating what they were told by Superintendent of Utilities Scottie Smith at the previous meeting that repaving of the town’s approximately 10 miles of streets would cost around $700,000.

To finance the project over a 10-year period would cost about $51,635 per year, Lyles told council members. Financing over a 15-year period would cost about $37,724.

The town is currently setting aside $25,000 a year for street repaving, Lyles said, and will receive an additional $11,000 in 2020 from a recently passed state gas tax earmarked for infrastructure improvements.

The $250,000 grant will pay for resurfacing projects on First, Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Streets, and South Avenue. The grant would also pay for the widening of some of the streets.

The grant does not cover engineering fees, which should be covered by the $25,000 the town has already budgeted for 2020.

The resurfacing would not include Alabama 104 (Main Street), which would fall under the Alabama Department of Transportation, or County Road 55 (Broad Street), which would fall under the Baldwin County Highway Department’s jurisdiction.

“My only concern here is that we’re not spending all of our money on this and won’t have anything left over for other things that need to be done,” said Council member Bert Jones. “Otherwise, I don’t have a problem with it.”

Lyles said by law the town also has to stay within a debt ceiling which is 20 percent of the total assessed property value of the town, or about $1.4 million.

“Right now, we are well below that figure,” he said.

In other business March 2, the council agreed to move forward with a contract to purchase 7.23 acres of property on the west side of town for $120,000.

Lyles said the town had submitted the agreement to the property owners, who had one issue in regards to financing on the property. Council members agreed accept the changes and proceed forward with the purchase.

Under the terms of the agreement, if approved the sale price would be paid through owner financing from the seller to the town over a 20-year term.

At its Dec. 16 meeting, council members discussed possibly using part of the property for a water tower. They also discussed using the property for fire department facilities, but it was unclear whether or not it could be used for that purpose.

The council also discussed moving forward to possibly annexing the Fairhope Falls subdivision into the town’s limits.

“One of the biggest things that we have to determine is if we can legally do this,” Lyles said. “Once that is determined, then we have to decide whether or not this will be beneficial for the town. From a financial standpoint, it certainly is, but I think we need to look at the fact that we will basically be bringing in more than 400 households and 19,000 linear feet of roadway into the town’s jurisdiction. Is that something we want to do?”

The 100-acre subdivision is planning for 60- to 65-foot lots for smaller garden homes, Lyles said, which is not currently allowed in the town’s zoning ordinance. The town’s Planning Commission would have to create a new zoning designation in order to approve the subdivision.

The council also approved a contract for tree removal with Ultimate Tree Service at a cost of $3,200.

Lyles announced that the next community event would be a Movie in the Park featuring the movie “The Sandlot” to coincide with opening day of youth baseball season March 28. The event will be sponsored by Jason Will Real Estate. Brad Giles will donate the screen and projector.

April’s community event will be Heritage Day on April 25, with the May event, a Mother-Son Ice Cream Social on May 16 at Brodie’s Cream and Bean.