River Cities Business Journal: Construction

KINGMAN - City Council passed an ordinance amending the rules of the General Plan during the Sept. 18, special session.

The ordinance allows the city to move the public hearing date for amendments to the General Plan from October to April. The ordinance passed unanimously.

Moving the date of the hearing from October to April will allow the approval of plans for Kingman Crossing Interchange and other projects to be approved faster.

Council also approved authorization for the mayor to sign two letters concerning the Kingman Crossing project.

The first is a letter of intent with the Arizona Department of Transportation to move forward on the design phase of the project.

The second letter is an agreement with the URS Corporation to provide design services for the project.

Council also approved the mayor signing an agreement with Kingman Crossing, LLC. to reimburse the city 50 percent of the cost for the first phase of design for the project.

Council Member Kerry Deering voiced concern over the reimbursement to the city on the project. He asked why the city was putting so much money up front for the project only to be reimbursed at a later date. It didn't make good business sense to him, he said.

City Manager Paul Beecher said both the developers and the city would be billed about the same amount.

In fact, he said the city would benefit the most from the project in the end with better traffic flow and other amenities.

Deering asked what guarantee the city had that it would be reimbursed by URS.

Beecher explained the agreement the mayor would sign with URS would be the guarantee.

“These are just the first steps leading up to the project,” Mayor Les Byram said.

A resident from North Apache Drive asked why Council seemed to be rushing the project.

Deering voted against all three items.

Some of the land for the Kingman Crossing interchange is owned by the city. The residents voted to zone the property as green space, the resident explained. He asked if another railroad underpass at Louise Avenue wouldn't be a better idea. He suggested adding an underpass downtown and in the Hilltop area. The underpasses would be a less expensive alternative to the interchange project, he said.

Byram said the city had tried to keep Louise open but the railroad had insisted on closing the crossing. The city had looked at the idea of building more railroad underpasses. The cost of doing so was more expensive than building the interchange, he said.

Another resident argued against the new Airway Avenue underpass. He said that traffic will be routed through several residential streets to get to and from the underpass.

He also complained about the physical condition of Eastern Street in the area of the underpass. Council members assured him Eastern Street would be improved.

The resident also said the new Kingman Crossing interchange would only add to the traffic problems on Hualapai Mountain Road.

Beecher said a public hearing on the project would be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Hualapai Elementary School.

Krystal Burge from the Economic and Tourism Development Commission requested that Council approve the creation of an Economic Development Strategic Plan by the commission.

Burge said the city needs to create a unified brand to market to outside communities and businesses.

Byram asked if the city didn't already have one with the Route 66 brand.

Burge explained that that brand was connected with tourism. The commission would like to create a brand that would incorporate both tourism and commercial interests in the city, something separate from the Airport Authority.

Vice Mayor Dave French agreed that the city needed a separate brand from the Airport Authority.

Council agreed to look at creating an ad hoc committee to consider the issue.