Wellington City officials not happy with Dollar Tree’s rush to pave 17th Street
Dollar Tree is progressing to completion in east Wellington.
by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — There is little doubt that construction is going pretty quickly at the new Dollar Tree in east Wellington. Some would argue that it is going a little too quickly, including a couple of city officials.
Developers involved in the Dollar Tree project paved 17th Street north of the new store over the weekend, and Wellington city officials are not real happy with the situation.
As part of the overall agreement, the developer was supposed to do that project, but they were also to allow the city to inspect the work as it proceeded and they were to meet certain specifications. City officials discovered on Monday the work had been done over the weekend. Dollar Tree officials are targeting for an opening date of Oct. 25.
City Manager Shane Shields told the council at Tuesday’s meeting that he and other city officials are going to get information from a consultant and see what their options are moving forward. There was no action taken, but the council will sort it out at a future work session meeting at some point.
17th Street may or may not have been built to city’s specifications.
Shields, in his report at the end of the meeting, said the developers agreement says the project is subject to specifications listed by the city. They have sent the developer a notice to stop work on the project until it is resolved.
17th Street is a feeder street that will be allow traffic to use as a frontage road connecting Dollar Tree to future development to the west.
Director of Public Works Jeremy Jones said the concern is that the road will eventually become a public road and the city will have to take over responsibility.
“We want quality work,” Jones said. “We have concerns with how it was constructed, with drainage, and the curbing is not to our specifications. We have not had an opportunity to look at the base material.”
The road was paved with concrete, and there is no way to know how the base was constructed.
He said in a worst-case scenario the paving would have to be taken out and the project will have to start over.
The city is taking care of Boundary Road improvements as part of the agreement.
Mayor Shelley Hansel said she had looked at the project, and it seemed like a rushed job to her.
“I don’t want it to look like the city does not want to work with people, but we have to hold them to a standard,” she said. “Our job is to protect our citizens. I don’t think we got the best bang for our buck on this.”
For now talks will continue with the developer.
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In other business, An open house and ribbon cutting for the Airport runway extension project is set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Oct. 20 at the airport.
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The city approved the closing of 16th street from Crestview to the entrance of Coyote Ridge on Oct. 27 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Oct. 27. A movie making group, Lemon Parade Films, is going to film part of a movie there on that day.
It is a comedy, and most of it has already been shot, organizer Shane Konicki told the council.
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The council also:
• passed a resolution declaring Ninth Street a main traffic way which allows the city to use the remaining money in a 2013 bond issue for improvements to that street;
• approved a project to replace the roof at the Panhandle Railroad Museum with Vega Roofing of Derby as the winning bid on the project costing $10,168.
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A work session is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 23. Main issues will be the vicious dog ordinance, auditing services, and a health care board appointment.
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The city is planning a disaster exercise for Nov. 8, from 8 to 9:30 a.m.. Police, fire and rescue workers will be involved in the exercise, and they will use an active shooter scenario as the exercise.
