Springdale approves more downtown work

SPRINGDALE — More improvements will be added to a downtown streetscape project underway.

The City Council approved with a 6- 2 vote Tuesday improvements from Blair Street to Shiloh Street in the city’s downtown.

“We’re basically just extending our original order with Springdale Water Utility to include that project as well,” said Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city.

The utility has been doing drainage work and making sidewalks Americans with Disabilities Act accessible from Hewitt Street to Berry Street since April.

The improvements from Blair to Shiloh, which are estimated to cost $619,917, will be the same as those done from Hewitt to Berry, according to Reeves. She said in April the work from Hewitt to Berry would cost $1.16 million.

Emma Avenue had been closed from Hewitt to Berry for construction, but was recently opened as sidewalk work was still being done. That section will remain open until July 13, but will briefly be closed again for an

asphalt overlay to the street.

Springdale Water Utilities, which had done water and sewer work from Hewitt to Berry, is overseeing the streetscape work upon city request. The city is reimbursing the utility for money spent on streetscape improvements only, and that

amount comes to $1.164 million, Reeves said.

Fire Chief Mike Irwin is looking to replace a 1994 Humvee brush rig bought by the Fire Department in 1995. He’s also looking to replace three staff vehicles, including a 2006 Dodge pickup and two 2007 Dodge Ram pickups, with a full-size SUV, an SUV the size of a Chevrolet Suburban and a full-size pickup. Those vehicles

will be used by the assistant fire chief and battalion chief and cost a combined $ 135,000, Irwin said last week.

The council also unanimously approved providing the Fire Department with $ 293,000 from the city’s Capital Improvement Project Fund to buy the rig and vehicles.

The current brush rig carries 250 gallons of water and is the department’s only rig. The new rig will carry 250 to 300 gallons and cost $158,000, Irwin said.

“It’s typically used for grass fires and fires off the roadways we can’t get to with a regular engine,” Irwin said. “These rigs are basically built for that purpose.”