CIP Director Robert Greenlaw gave the City Council an update on the Five Corners project at the Feb. 18 council meeting.
He said since the last update, the project had completed 85% of the cultural resource assessment.
The storm drain piping has been removed. Greenlaw said they have started on underground utilities along the eastern side of Avalon Canyon Road next to City Hall.
He said they met with owners of the abutting properties on the north side of Tremont Street.
“Hopefully we’ve come to a conclusion that’s going to be a happy conclusion for everybody,” Greenlaw said.
“That will require a few minor encroachment permits but they will be in front of council and we’re anticipating that’s going to be in March that we’ll be talking about the specifics on that,” Greenlaw said.
“We’re going to build the new storm drain along Tremont Street through the five corners intersection,” Greenlaw said.
He said they would continue undergrounding utilities along Tremont.
They are also removing the overhead utilities along the south side of Tremont Street, according to Greenlaw.
He said the schedule was showing that by mid-May they would install the frontage improvements on the north side of Tremont Street. This would be done a block at a time, according to Greenlaw.
“The contractor would get in there, demo it, and then replace it immediately before moving on to the next block,” Greenlaw said.
Greenlaw said they were not going to have the whole block torn up.
“We want to get that done before the visitor season,” Greenlaw said. “So it’s a priority for the contractor to get that done while he’s doing the other underground utilities and storm drain,” Greenlaw said.
He said the new storm channel would be wider and would have slopes that are angled to make a trapezoid ditch with the sides at 45-degree angles.
He said there would be a grassy bottom for water quality. “So if there’s anything bad, say, like oils or stuff that comes off the roadway, that’s what mitigates that,” Greenlaw said.
“We’re laying about 82 more feet of pipe,” Greenlaw said.
In response to a question from Councilmember Mary Schickling, Greenlaw confirmed that the storm channel would be an open-air part of the drainage system.
Greenlaw said he would be back in about a month and a half with another report.
