Foundation for Clearwater Main Street infrastructure project laid out during townhall meeting

The message from Clearwater residents is overwhelmingly clear: fix the streets.

"We've been researching different options and trying to figure out a way to start improving the streets. When we went through the surveys done for the Downtown Revitalization project, and the housing grant two years ago, streets were the No. 1 concern of citizens of the community," said Clearwater Economic Development Director Lauren Sheridan.

Navigating Clearwater's business corridor may get a whole lot smoother if a proposed $3.9 million street improvement project comes to fruition.

The proposed project and potential funding options were presented during a July 14 town hall meeting held at the fire hall meeting room.

Sheridan acknowledged that many small communities struggle to finance street projects. Clearwater is no exception. At this time, street improvements in the downtown area are targeted since the DTR study recently wrapped.

"Now is a really good time to transition into a DTR full grant," Sheridan said.

This type of grant would allow targeted funds for Main Street development, unlike a Community Development Block Grant, which may be utilized only for residential streets.

"There's not a lot of programs to help you improve Main Street," Sheridan said.

Village Engineer John Zwingman, a civil engineer with Advanced Consulting Engineering Services, outlined Clearwater's DTR process and explained how the streetscape came into play.

"In all reality, we pared the project down to bare bones," Zwingman said, noting that several aspects of the DTR proposal, including landscaping and lighting elements, are not set in stone.

Zwingman is currently working on a downtown improvement project in Clarkson, a Colfax County village with 631 residents, based on 2022 United States Census Bureau data. Using Clarkson's upgrades as an example, he said it's important to recognize what will work within a specific community.

"We want functionality ... and the best bang for your buck," he said.

Last fall, when Zwingman and other DTR team members visited Clearwater, the engineer noticed a "tremendous crown" on Main Street. He attributed it to "years and years" of overlays being added to repair the street.

Conversations with village officials - past and present - led Zwingman to learn there were sink holes on the street, "where they kept pouring asphalt or concrete to fill it."

"Over the years, we overlay to seal it up, or sometimes we come and lay a two-inch asphalt and we taper it out to nothing so we don't get rid of drainage on the sides. Over time, that center keeps building and building and building. That's how we get stuck with some of these huge cross slopes," he said.

The engineer noted that some areas on the street aren't bad. Some areas, though, have a 6% cross slope.

"If you extend that out over 100 feet, you would go up six feet in 100 feet. Americans with Disabilities Act compliance is 2%," Zwingman said.

Another concern the engineer noted is a lack of ADA-compliant accesses and curbs at intersections and a lack of ADA parking.

"Nobody can paint ADA parking in front of almost any business or building on Main Street because they're not compliant. No matter where you get out of a vehicle, you're not supposed to have 2% slope in any direction. Because of the crown of your street, you can't do that," he said.

Zwingman also checked the street's elevation change from one side to the other and noted there should not be a problem.

"That's good. We can get in, get the sidewalk work done, drainage work done and I don't have to worry so much about steps and what I'm doing with the crown of the street and the slope to make it work," he said.

Drainage will continue to be an issue. Starting at The Office, at 522 Main Street, and continuing north, the cross slope gets really steep. According to Zwingman, buildings stayed at the same elevation, but in order to get drainage to the north to dump into a ditch, the sidewalk, tapers downward.

"If we want to maintain ADA compliance, we need to maintain at least a five-foot walkway that is only 2% cross slope."

Zwingman anticipates some engineering challenges due to the narrow sidewalks.

"In some places, the sidewalks are in bad shape. Other places, people have done some maintenance on them over the years and kept them in good shape. Unfortunately, some of the work that has been done doesn't meet ADA compliance."

A minimum four-foot by four-foot flat area in front of the door is required for a door to open, allowing entry by wheelchair.

Project overview

Zwingman and DTR planning members defined a project corridor, which starts one block north of Highway 275 and runs south to Nebraska Street. That area was divided into north and south sections, with the highway as the dividing line. Sections may be completed at separate times.

Estimated construction costs for the north section, which runs to Reno Street, are approximately $537,500. The south section, has an approximate price tag of $3.3 million.

"Once we start south of the highway, we can't stop until we get here (Nebraska Street)," Zwingman said.

The project includes a one-half block extension, to the alleys, on First, Second and Nebraska streets. The extensions will provide transition and take into consideration storm sewer work to handle water from the area.

Proposed solutions

One of the first solutions will be to set a standard distance from building front to building front.

"We're doing this in phases so we're not shutting down everything at once. We're replacing sidewalk, curb, gutter, street, curb, gutter sidewalk, all the way across," Zwingman said.

Access to the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department will present challenges, but nothing Zwingman hasn't encountered before.

"I would anticipate we'd have to phase this half of the street and get to the center of the fire hall," he said.

The Clarkson project will use concrete. Due to estimated pricing for asphalt, it was not included in bid specifications. Clearwater's project may take a similar approach.

"Asphalt prices fluctuate incredibly with the price of oil," Zwingman said.

Sidewalk sections would be approximately nine and one-half feet, with five feet of relatively flat sidewalk against buildings. More slope would extend the last four and one-half feet to the curb.

ADA-compliant intersections would be put in place. The engineer noted that in Clarkson, ADA intersections were added at the halfway point in each block near heavy-utilized commercial areas. This could be an option in Clearwater.

An eight-inch thick parking area would be added, with a nine-inch thick concrete pavement down the center of the street. Included in Zwingman's estimate is a six-inch, crushed rock, stabilizing layer underneath the concrete.

"Because of the horror stories I heard about Main Street. I drove around town this spring, during some of those rain events. If the dirt under Main Street is the same as on some of those other streets, it's going to take that rock subbase for us to work," Zwingman said.

Angled parking and parking down the center will be available. In the future, parallel parking may be considered for center-lane stalls.

"You don't lose any stalls," he said.

If approved, center-lane parallel parking would include four side-by-side spots, with a gap, allowing for people to pull out.

Updated lighting would be included in the redesign and could include a variety of options, depending on what the community deems necessary.

Water main replacement would occur, upgrading to an eight- or ten-inch main.

New fire hydrants, valves, and water services to the front of a building will be included.

"If people want water service to their building, they have to connect at the front and pull it the rest of the way in," Zwingman said.

Since the village's sewer system has already been lined, that work will not need to be done.

Funding options

"How do we pay for it?" Sheridan asked.

In the housing and DTR studies, residents indicated they were not receptive to an increase in property tax, but were open to a sales tax increase.

Since 2019 when the Wayfair Act went into effect, sales tax collected from online purchases, delivered in Clearwater, have increased the village's sales tax coffers.

Prior to passage of the Wayfair Act, $60,751 in sales tax was collected in Clearwater.

In 2023, $89,221 was received in sales tax, a $28,470 - or approximately a 33% increase.

The ED director said when area residents visit other cities, including Norfolk, Omaha and Lincoln, and make a purchase, an additional sales tax, targeted for infrastructure, is being paid.

"They have a certain percentage of sales tax that goes to building infrastructure only," she said. "What we're proposing is an opportunity to increase the sales tax by one-half of 1%, on goods and services and build our own infrastructure fund."

For example, the tax would generate an additional $2.50 tax on purchases of $500. Zwingman estimated the one-half of 1% would bring an additional $30,000 annually.

Communities "are in the same boat," according to Sheridan. "Thirty years ago, we didn't have the money to do it. Now, we're at a point where they have to be done."

Clearwater residents wouldn't bear the burden of the increased sales tax.

"You have a lot of people from other communities coming here to go to the bar, go to the restaurant, the gas station. There are a lot of different things that bring sales tax here and you have a lot of that coming from people passing through," she said.

Economic development officials are considering using software, which pings phones at any given time in the area, giving officials a list of zip codes of which those residents are stopping and shopping in Clearwater.

"It breaks it down by the hour, where they're coming from and where they're going next. It's impressive," she said.

Sheridan said the sales tax increase is a starting point to build a fund and acknowledged it won't happen overnight.

"We found this is a possibility to start these public improvements," she said.

The sales-tax proposal will need to go in front of Clearwater voters this November. During the board of trustees meeting on July 15, discussion on Resolution 2024-4 took place. Village attorney Kyle Petersen said the village will need to enter into an interlocal agreement with another government entity. Clerk Angie Hupp will approach ESU and the county to see if one is willing to participate. The resolution will be discussed again at the August 12 meeting.

The village will also be able to apply for a DTR grant through the State of Nebraska. Those funds are capped at $500,000.

"I don't think this is anything we plan to start tomorrow," said village chairman Kelly Kerkman.

Zwingman said Clarkson began discussion on its project three years ago and chose to increase property taxes. He said other communities he has worked with have formed similar funds for DTR improvements.

"One of these generations is gong to have to end up doing it before it's an absolute necessity. The question is, which one," Sheridan said.