CITY TO BID SEWER PROJECT ON SOUTH SIDE

The city next week will advertise for bids on a project to begin replacement of antiquated sewers on Cape Girardeau's south side.

During the past several years residents of the area have reported mostly following heavy rains sewage-filled basements and raw sewage discharged in drainage ditches and into Cape LaCroix Creek.

Combination storm water and sanitary sewers have been blamed for most of the problems, and the city last year completed a 20-year sewer master plan aimed at segregating the old system.

Included among the five-year sewer priorities in the plan is a $5 million project that would separate combined sanitary and storm sewers in the College, Walnut and Henderson streets area the same area of a housing rehabilitation project funded by a Community Development Block Grant.

Steve Williams, the city's housing assistance coordinator, said Tuesday the grant also will help fund sewer work in the area.

"We've acquired all the easements for the project and we're getting ready to advertise bids on the project Wednesday," he said. "We plan a bid opening Sept. 10, and by the time we get everything in, we anticipate the construction date will be around mid-October."

Although the sewer work in the block grant area is only a small portion of the city's overall sewer segregation plans, when finished, it should help relieve some of the problems.

Williams said the project will include installation of new sanitary and storm sewers in the four-block grant area.

"We're going to segregate the system by putting storm sewers on the west side of Henderson where the houses have basements," he said. "On the east side there are no basements, so we'll put shallower (sanitary) sewers on that side of the street."

Williams said the new sewers will reduce the flow of waste in the "bottom" end of the 56-inch combination sewer main beneath Henderson Street.

"By removing the entire four-block area from that Henderson main, it should relieve some of the pressure further up the line," he said. "We're relieving the bottom end of the stream, so you're going to alleviate some of the problem.

The project also will include the replacement of private sewers at Park Street and West End Boulevard, Williams said. The project is expected to take about 180 days to complete once construction starts, he said.

Williams said the city was fortunate to be able to use the block grant money for sewer improvements in addition to housing renovation in the neighborhood.

To date, 21 homes have been renovated, with four more out for bid, he said. The city plans to rehabilitate up to 60 homes through the two-year grant program.

Not only is the program successful in upgrading low- to moderate-income homes in the community, Williams said, but it also has a residual effect among property owners adjacent to the project area.

"We've got people in the neighborhood a couple blocks up from the project who have put siding up since we began the program," he said. "A few of the houses have been painted.

"The neighborhood is really sprucing up all on its own, which is the object of the whole program."

A separate rental rehabilitation program will renovate about 15 rental buildings in the east-central part of town, Williams said.

"We're getting ready next week to put three units under contract," he said. "Once it gets started, it shouldn't take long to get rid of that grant and do those units.

In the 10 years Cape Girardeau has participated in the Missouri Community Development Block Grant program, more than $4 million in state grants have gone for neighborhood improvements in South Cape Girardeau and Red Star districts.

The intent of the block grant program is to provide funds for cities to improve blighted conditions in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods through housing rehabilitation and infrastructure improvements.

The program also is used to create jobs for low- and moderate-income individuals. Funding for the program is provided to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Since 1982, the program has resulted in the rehabilitation of more than 120 homes and the improvement of 17 streets and two alleys with about two miles of high-quality pavement.

The city's current project is in the College-Jefferson Neighborhood, where eligible property owners receive up to $12,000 to rehabilitate their homes.

Williams said the project is ideal because it does more than simply enable low- to moderate-income property owners to upgrade their homes.

"We were able to include the sewer work, which was a plus, and it's in an area that needed rehabilitation and happens to be right above the last project we did," he said. "So we're building on top of that other project."

Williams said the project also will be directly adjacent to the corridor of the new Mississippi River bridge route through south Cape Girardeau.

"It's an improvement in an area that's adjacent to the highway project, but the highway won't infringe on the neighborhood," he said.