Dredging Preparations Move Ahead

As crews continue to clear a site to dry dredged materials from Wares Creek, the County Commission will decide this morning whether to take two properties to provide maintenance easements for the dredging project.

The two parcels, one on 20th Street West and one on 15th Avenue Drive West, are needed for access and maintenance for the creek and are vital to the flood control project, according to the documents the county will consider today. The properties are owned by two different individuals and are valued at $44,300.

The County plans to pay Ariane St. Previl $19,600 for an easement on her land at 1922 15th Avenue Drive West. And will pay Daniel Fradley $24,700 for his property at 1312 20th Street West.

The property will be used for storm water drainage and access to maintain the dredging. Under a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that county has agreed to maintain Ware's Creek once it is dredged so that it does not fill wiht silt again.

Workers are trimming back vegetation this week in preparation for Monday's ground breaking for the long-awaited project. The ceremony and celebration will begin at 10 a.m.

The old parking lot for the former city hall building will be used to dry out spoil material once it is dredged from the creek bed. County employees have warned the neighborhood that the spoil material will likely have a bad odor. The materials will sit on the site until they are dy enough to haul to the county's landfill where the best of the soil will be used as cover for the garbage there.