Solar Hill Project Ready to Begin

By David McGee
Staff Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 24, 2008

BY DAVID McGEE
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. – The long-awaited Solar Hill neighborhood improvement project could begin later this summer.

Initially approved by city leaders in 2004, plans call for new sidewalks, decorative street lights, the relocation of electrical wiring underground and signs. Work is set for a five-block area in the city’s oldest residential neighborhood bordered by Johnson, Cumberland, Oak and Scott streets.

Funding comes from a pair of grants totaling $353,000 from the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, plus about $88,000 from the city’s general fund.

“The plans are being approved by VDOT right now. Once we get that approval we must advertise 21 days for bids. We should be ready to go after those 21 days,” said Sharyl Carter, the city’s director of community development and planning.

Work could begin in August or September and should take about four months to complete, Carter said.

The right-of-way review process is expected to take as long as four weeks and requires both local and state approvals, VDOT spokeswoman Michelle Earl said.

“The review is to make sure all of the work will be done on public property or property that has an easement,” Earl said. “Once the state right-of-way engineer certifies it, and the Federal Highway Administration sees a copy, the work can begin.”

Securing those easements caused the most recent delay, Carter said.

“The latest delay was in contacting homeowners to get construction easements, so in case a contractor needed to lay something on somebody’s property,” Carter said. “There are a lot of absent homeowners because much of that is rental property.”

City Attorney Pete Curcio said that part of the process was time-consuming.

“It took a while to track all those folks down, but all of the easements have now been recorded,” Curcio said.

The project will involve 130 homes in an area that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001.

Despite some rumors to the contrary, the project was never in jeopardy of being cancelled, City Manager Bill Dennison said on Monday.

“The project has been proceeding slowly, but it has been proceeding. It has never been off the radar screen,” Dennison said. “Once we get that final [VDOT] approval, we’ll put it out for bids. And we were never in danger of losing that funding.”

The majority of the city’s portion – $64,000 – already has been spent to buy the street lights, Dennison said.

The city plans to bid out the installation of new sidewalks and historic markers, Carter said, while Bristol Virginia Utilities will install the new lighting and relocate electrical lines.

In addition to safety and beautification components, plans includes the installation of 10 historic markers, a prominent gateway portal sign at the corner of Cumberland and Johnson streets, a map dispenser and maps for visitors to the neighborhood.

Those items add about $30,000 to the total price, but rising materials costs could impact that part of the project, Carter said.

“We’re concerned the markers might need to be funded on the next go-round,” Carter said. “We won’t know until the bids come in, but the price of everything is going up.”

Local residents can take a look at the project plans during an informational meeting set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2, at City Hall.

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