Property owners, council get update on Sixth Street Ditch Project

     Plans are underway for the long-awaited and much-anticipated Sixth Street Ditch Project.

   City Engineer Patrick Schwickerath with Snyder & Associates provided an update during the Aug. 5 Monticello City Council meeting.

   The improvements include the following sections of the ditch: 125 feet downstream of N. Chestnut Street and approximately 375 feet upstream and downstream of N. Cedar Street.

   Back in November 2022, it was decided that the city would foot the bill for the project.

   The city was approved for USDA funding. The cost estimate for the construction portion will be in the range of $700,000. That does not include engineering, inspection, permitting, etc. The additions to update the permitting and Corps of Engineers' review could add over $150,000 to the construction cost.

   The scope of the project includes the removal and replacement of walls, channel and slope grading, erosion protection including rip rap and Flexamat, and seeding.

   "We'll be putting in some soil-choked revetment, or rip rap, to help with erosion protection," explained Schwickerath.

   Throughout the ditch, he said they'll be putting in a 4-to-1 channel for higher flows.

   "Really large flows would still obviously get out of the channel," he said.

   Schwickerath explained what Flexamat pertains to.

   "It is small pieces of concrete that are tied together. They go down over the slopes. They get anchored into the slope side. You can mow over top of them; grass can grow through them. It holds the slope in place."

   Steve Intlekofer asked if Flexamat was a new concept. Schwickerath offered that it's actually been around for a while. Both the DOT and SUDAS (Iowa Statewide Urban Design & Specifications) are adding Flexamat to their specifications.

   "There are contractors who have definitely used it," he said.

   The culverts under Highway 38/Cedar Street, which are filled with silt, will be flushed out as part of the project.

   "The box culvert under 38 has a foot and a half of dirt in it," said Council member Dave Goedken.

   Schwickerath said while the silt will be removed, there are no plans to increase the size of the culvert.

   "I've never seen water overtop it," he told the council and property owners. "A large percentage of that culvert capacity is essentially non-existent with that silt in there. So removing that will address part of the concern. Removing that silt will add capacity, but it will not hold a 100-year (flood) event. There will be events that will certainly flood what's out there; get out of the channel."

   Schwickerath said a project like this will require permanent drainage easements, temporary construction easements, and egress easements. He said City Administrator Russ Farnum would be following up with property owners on this front.

   Property owner Mike Holmes asked why they would just give the city a permanent easement.

   "What would be the reason for that?" Holes asked. "If you're (the city) not going to maintain it, why would we do that?"

   "The permanent easement would allow us access if we needed to get in there and do any major maintenance," said Farnum.

   While this project would create a ditch that homeowners can easily maintain on their own on a day-to-day basis, Farnum said there might be times where the city needs to come in for major repairs or maintenance. The permanent easements give the city that needed access, rather than waste time seeking access from each property owner.

   Holmes asked if the city planned to pay owners for the access.

   "There's no charge," Farnum said. "There's no special assessment to adjacent property owners for doing all of this work to start with. It's in exchange for those easements."

   Goedken said this project has been in the works for years.

   "There's no sense in the city taking on to repair that ditch and doing all of the work if we can't get the permanent rights to take care of it," Goedken said to those questioning the process. "We've spent an awful lot of money designing this ditch over and over again. We're at the point where we're not going to assess the property owners for this work in order to make this happen. If it doesn't happen this time, we're just going to forget it. We'll turn the other way when you start screaming at us saying the city ought to fix it. You want the city to fix it, we need the right to get in there and do it. If you don't want to give us that, if you want to be the one who stops this project for the rest of your neighbors, you can deal with your neighbors."

   "If for some reason somebody is not able to take care of the normal (ditch) maintenance," explained Schwickerath of the reason for the easements, "and the city chooses that they need to go in there and do some maintenance that hasn't been done, it also gives the city that opportunity as well."

   As far as a project schedule, Schwickerath said the physical work will happen some time next spring or summer.

   "Ideally, acquisitions would take a couple of months," he said. "That's subject to change and how those negotiations go. We'll get the permitting back in time to have a letting yet this fall or winter. That schedule has different items in there that could impact it; the two biggest ones being the acquisitions and if there is something unforeseen that comes up with the permitting."