Athens City Council will discuss repairs to the Washington Street parking garage, upgrades to Athens pool and the Essence of Athens
Though the typical life span for an elevator is 30 years, the elevator at the Washington Street parking garage has been hanging for 45.
At Athens City Council’s weekly Monday night meeting, council will move forward with planning repairs to the garage, starting with financing.
The upgrades are projected to cost about $2 million and will include structural repairs to the deteriorating parking garage along with the replacement of the 1970s elevator.
In January, Council viewed a presentation from Burgess & Niple outlining the details of the project. Mike Hinton, a representative for the company, detailed the projected expenses.
Hinton said the needed repairs could cost the city about $1 million for general repairs, $500,000 for elevator repairs and $500,000 for design, bidding and construction expenses.
Hinton added that if the building sits through another winter unrenovated, the bid price for the new repairs could go up.
The last repairs the garage saw were in 2000.
Council will also look forward to the summer months and discuss construction and renovations to the Athens public pool at the Athens Community Center.
City officials are looking to completely revamp the outdoor pool and also to begin construction of a new indoor pool.
The project is estimated to cost $7 million, though some officials are afraid it will run over the $10 million set aside for the upgrades.
“My fear is that we design the outdoor unit … and say ‘Oops, it was a $10 million project and now we only have $3 million left,’ ” Chris Knisely, city council president, said.
Otherwise on the agenda, council members will take another look at the Essence of Athens project.
The most recent addition to the plan includes the addition of 10 vinyl wraps for Uptown switchboxes.
The switchboxes control the various traffic lights throughout Uptown.
The wraps will cost $11,000, and will help prevent graffiti, city officials said.
“Hopefully, these boxes are so attractive that vandals go ‘Oh, I don’t want to mess with that,’ ” Steve Patterson, D-at large, said.
Council plans to open up a contest for local artists to submit their designs for the wraps. The winner will receive $500.
Patterson wants to incorporate elements of the Essence of Athens project into the West Union Street sidewalk repairs as well.
He said the plans include pouring brand new sidewalks from Depot to Shafer streets and imbedding “Athens blocks” into the new sidewalks.
Athens blocks are the bricks that pave Uptown streets.
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