City projects begin to ramp up for spring

Spring is clearly in the air for the City of Sundance, with much of Tuesday’s council meeting taken up with discussions of work in progress or soon to begin.

The council hosted a public hearing for a grant application it intends to submit to WYDOT to fund a new box culvert under 3rd Street. Mayor Paul Brooks explained that the city has been denied on this grant in the past because it had not solicited public input, and is therefore doing so now.

No comments or objections were forthcoming from the audience, so the grant application will be moving ahead.

According to Trihydro’s Karla Greaser, work continues on the 3rd Street Project. Trihydro is finalizing the scope and fee estimate for the work, which will repair a leak that is estimated to be losing 50,000 gallons of water per day and relocate service taps on an old, four-inch galvanized waterline.

Greaser told the council that she plans to officially present this information next month.

Meanwhile, she said that Trihydro has updated the zoning and water system map for the city to reflect recent changes.

Not every project on the council’s radar this month was city-run. Josh Kammerer, for example, approached the council representing the new owner of the triangular lot next to C&A Meats.

The Land Use Planning Committee had already approved plans to place a building on that lot. However, on further inspection, Kammerer said it had become clear that the structure would be better placed north to south than in its original east-to-west position.

This will require a slightly larger variance, he said, while the council pondered whether the new position might impact visibility on the corner for drivers. The council passed a motion to grant the mayor permission to sign the building permit on the condition that the building’s new location be staked out on the ground so that council members can see and approve it.

A landowner in the canyon area asked for the council’s approval to tie into the city water tower from his 35-acre property on Wild Bunch Trail. This would require a pre-annexation agreement – the city’s usual protocol – and for the city to take a look at the water system to see if it can support another tap on that line.

As the home will be at an elevation, Ken Rathbun of Engineering Associates said that the landowner would need to pump the water uphill. This, however, would be the landowner’s issue to solve.

The landowner was asked to work with Greaser to determine feasibility.

During the meeting, the council also opted to move ahead with renewing the city’s contracts with the Crook County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement and CW Waste for trash removal.