MOUNT VERNON — Two 2026 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) projects will get underway in 2026 after city council members authorized city officials to bid and contract for the work.
A brick street reconstruction is a critical infrastructure project covering two blocks each on Burgess and Hamtramck streets between Main and Sandusky streets.
“The last time we invested money, that was written in a book in the auditor’s office, on Burgess Street between Mulberry and Main Street was 1929,” City Engineer Brian Ball said.
“So we think it’s time to do a little reinvestment.”
The estimated $2.67 million project includes a rebuild and the replacement of all utilities.
Crews will remove the bricks, replace the city utility lines, remove the topsoil, lay a stable concrete foundation, and replace the bricks.
Because the area is adjacent to historic neighborhoods, Ball said the city will ask the contractor to either leave the sandstone curbs undisturbed or reset them.
“The concrete curbs that are on Hamtramck Street are basically gravel or trash. [Concrete] does not necessarily have the same lifespan as the sandstone curves,” Ball said.
“We’re going to try this as a new thing to preserve those sandstone curves on Burgess Street, because most of them are in really good shape.”
The city has some bricks it salvaged from previous projects for areas where sandstone has been removed.
Funding for the project includes a $500,000 CDBG grant as well as drawing from city street, water, wastewater, stormwater, and sidewalk funds.
Ball said the plan is to bid the project in January with an ideal completion date of Aug. 1.
However, he said it might extend into October.
Revitalizing the Riverside Park neighborhood
The census block that qualifies for a $750,000 CDBG neighborhood revitalization grant is north of West High Street. It is bounded by the levee, the American National Can site (now owned by Airco), and Lewis Street. It includes Heartland Commerce Park.
Ball said the city will likely seek multiple bids for the project.
One bid includes installing six pickleball courts, converting the existing pickleball courts to basketball courts, and making the restroom handicapped-accessible from the pickleball courts.
The city has completed playground upgrades as part of its match to the project.
Pickleball enthusiast Kurt Hinterschied advised the city on design plans for the courts.
“The crowd pleaser is probably some pickleball courts.”
city engineer brian ball
The second bid package includes street and stormwater improvements on West Sugar Street. Improvements include narrowing the roadway, adding sidewalks, and replacing a fire hydrant.
Ball said the road is uneven in width; the project will give it defined borders with curb and gutters.
“The gravel and the asphalt kind of spill over into each other. Part of the complaint is it’s unsafe for pedestrians because there is not a good definition between what’s road, what’s parking, and what’s sidewalk.”
Ball said an 11-foot-width meets city standards while still calming traffic.
“Instead of trying to force people to drive correctly with signs and the police, we’re trying to change the road so that you get a little bit of a tighter feel, and it feels like a neighborhood,” he explained.
A neighborhood-driven project
Ball said the city will likely bid the sanitary improvements as a third project.
“At this point, we want to get the park and the Sugar Street part happening right away in January,” he said.
“We want to be courteous to [Utilities Director Aaron Reinhart’s] funds in the utility, so we’re going to try to get an extension to do that project a little bit later so we can see how things go with funding, because that is a little bit of a stretch.”
The engineer emphasized the project is neighborhood-driven through a series of public meetings.
“We did not pick Sugar Street to rebuild. We may have leaned more toward Greenwood because it has more traffic, but from the neighborhood perspective, we heard that Sugar Street has some folks with limited abilities,” Ball said.
“They have substantial damage to the sidewalk. The ponding areas make it difficult to have ADA access. So we then came up with alternatives.”
The project is estimated to cost $2.91 million.
Cottage Street and Mansfield Avenue
City council members gave a second reading to legislation that allows the city to bid and contract for two smaller projects.
The projects are close enough to each other to bundle them into a single contract for a more competitive bid.
The Cottage Street project is between Calhoun and Curtis streets.
Assistant Engineer Quentin Platt said the city became aware of it this summer when a citizen reported having backup sanitary issues and asked about replacing their lateral line.
Platt said the house shared a line with two other houses, and there was no way for the homeowner to hook up to the main line.
“We decided that even though this was only benefiting three houses, we had to make sure that they had a reliable way to hook up to the city sewer that didn’t require them having either a shared lateral or a 100-foot-plus lateral that went down the right of way,” Platt said.
Workers would install a 120-foot extension that would allow the three property owners to hook in when they choose.
The second project involves a sanitary main that runs behind 103 to 111 Mansfield Avenue. It serves five houses.
About half a dozen or so large maple trees are on top of the line, which is an old clay pipe.
“We’ve had to go in there several times to clean it out, and we’ve had a number of backups,” Platt said.
“We would like to replace that section of Maine and then reconnect those five customers and get them a working sanitary main so we don’t have to go in there and clean it out all the time like we do and so they can have reliably working, sanitary pipes.”