The Austin City Council approved nine street improvement projects at its Monday night meeting, though not without public input.

Residents came before the council upset with some of the street improvement projects, with eight people successfully convincing the council to approve a street project on 22nd Avenue SW from 12th to 16th Street SW without putting in new sidewalk by a 4-3 vote.

“We do not need sidewalks,” one resident told the council. Several neighbors said they organized a petition against putting in sidewalk on the south side of 22nd Avenue SW, which would have created maintenance work for landowners, some of whom are elderly and said they didn’t want to keep up sidewalks on their property in the winter.

“It does put a burden on the property owner to maintain that sidewalk,” said Jon Erichson, city engineer.

22nd Avenue SW residents said about 8 out of the 12 affected houses were against sidewalks being put in, though some houses already had sidewalks. Residents also requested permission to take out the existing sidewalk, but the council put off the decision for a work session, as the decision could set a precedent and affect other street improvement projects this year, according to Erichson.

Council member Steve King brought up a similar issue residents on 19th Avenue SW brought before the council in 2008, saying that situation ended up being very heated. King voted to continue the project without sidewalk additions, saying he was in favor of the residents’ right to decide what goes on their land.

“I put the weight on the property owners,” King said.

Yet council member Judy Enright opposed the project as she reminded council members of their commitment to sustainable planning.

“The community did commit to being a GreenSteps city,” Enright said, explaining sidewalks and walking paths should be a part of every street improvement project to encourage people to walk more.

In the end, council members King, Brian McAlister, Marian Clennon and Roger Boughton voted to continue the project without adding sidewalk while Enright, Janet Anderson and Jeff Austin voted against the measure.

Other street projects include renovations to 14th Street NW from Oakland Avenue W. to Eighth Avenue NW, and Fourth Street NW from Third Avenue to 10th Avenue NW. Those roads, which are major thoroughways through the city, won’t be scheduled at the same time according to Assistant City Engineer Stephen Lang.

The city will also work on projects near Banfield Elementary School and near the area of the East Side Lake Dam and Ankeny’s Mini Mart. Other portions of town affected will include:

—Ninth Street NW, from First to Eighth Avenue

—19th Street SE, from Oakland to Fourth Avenue

—10th Place NE, from 11th Drive to 17th Street (residents only assessed for mill and overlay at $20 per foot)

—16th Street SE, from Oakland Avenue to Fourth Avenue (residents will not be assessed for repairs)

The projects are part of the city’s five-year Capital Investment Plan.

Public hearings on street assessments are set for March 19.

Polluting flood control

The city’s flood control projects are about 95 percent done, according to city officials. There could be one more major hurdle to overcome, however.

Erichson told the council at its work session city officials were concerned about the level of pollution on the old Sinclair Gas Station lot on N. Main Street, which is a corporate-owned gas station. While the city has acquired almost all of structured easements needed to begin phases 3-7 of its flood mitigation projects this year, the Sinclair lot has long been a pollution concern as no one knows just how contaminated the lot’s soil is from discharging too much hydrocarbon from groundwater pumped up through a mitigation system.

“Pollution is a big issue here,” Erichson said. “There’s pollution there and (Sinclair has) never been able to … resolve their pollution clean up issues.”

Erichson said Sinclair had not cleaned up the area after running afoul of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for some time. Though city officials tried to prod the company to clean up the land, communications had broken down for some time, according to City Administrator Jim Hurm.

Erichson recommended the city purchase the lot from Sinclair officials and enter into a limited liability agreement with the company, which would allow the city to clean up the site. Though there are risks, as it’s unclear just how polluted the lot is, Erichson said the cost of cleaning the site up would be drastically cheaper than building a flood wall around the property, which could involve redoing street intersections, utilities and other landscape. The lot holds up construction, as city officials don’t have access to a $5 million federal grant for flood mitigation until they own all land necessary to continue the project.

Council members directed Erichson to negotiate a reasonable price for the lot, due to its pollution.

Erichson also told the council flood mitigation efforts would continue into next year, as he expects phases 4-7 to start in the fall and phase 3 to start construction in spring.

The city also:

—Accepted a bid to build a new fire truck from Sutphen Corporation for $651,000. Two companies bid for the opportunity to build the truck, according to Fire Chief Mickey Healey, but Sutphen was the only corporation to offer a bid under Austin Fire Department specifications.

—Accepted engineering services for the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant to build three 1-million gallon tanks for excess water flow, which could cost between $1.8 to $2.2 million.

—Studied city expenditures for the Administration and Library Departments, about $3.8 million of the city’s budget this year. Financial Director Tom Dankert explained city finances to the council as part of its request to learn more about budget minutae to get a sense of what it could control. Dankert outlined various expenses, showing where union contracts, and local, state and federal mandates essentially made certain expenses difficult, if not impossible, for the council to change.

“About 70 percent of the budget is not under your control” Dankert said, explaining the council would have to go to great lengths to influence contractual obligations with certain city employees or service providers. Dankert explained other influences like contingency funding or needed capital repairs took care of another 21 percent of the Administration and Library budgets, essentially leaving about 10 percent for the council to influence.

—Set dates for “Coffee with the Council” an initiative where council members visit with residents to learn more about their concerns. The meeting will take place on the second Saturday of the month, according to Anderson and Clennon.

Austin’s first “Coffee with the Council” will take place at Gymocha from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., with no set topic. Another “Coffee with the Council” will take place April 14 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Coffee House on Main. Clennon and Anderson told the council they preferred residents come and address their issues to council members, though McAlister expressed concerns about some residents levying accusations and rumors against council members.

“I just don’t want to see this become some sort of free-for-all,” McAlister said.

Anderson, Clennon and Enright pointed out council members may not be able to answer all questions, but would have a sign-up sheet so they could get back to residents with the answers they sought. “Coffee with the Council” also has a Facebook page as a public event, Clennon said.

—Set this year’s electronics recycling event for June 9. Last year’s electronics recycling event collected more than 220,000 pounds of items only weeks after a similar recycling event took place at RE-fest at Riverland Community College. The event will be held at the Mower County Fairgrounds once more.

Enright said RE-fest organizers won’t hold their own electronics recycling event this year, as it caused too many problems and took away from RE-fest.