Information session to offer details on pending reconstruction, expenses

Village of Fredonia residents will get a chance to pose questions about the pending reconstruction of Fredonia Avenue at an informational session to be held prior to the Thursday, March 1, Village Board meeting.

The session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Fredonia Government Center, 242 Fredonia Ave.

The primary focus on the discussion will be the possibility of burying utility lines in conjunction with the road project, and the financial impact that amenity could have.

Village officials have agreed that because burying the overhead utility lines would be a beautification project for the entire community, it would not be fair to place the financial burden of the cost solely on property owners along Fredonia Avenue.

The April 3 ballot will include an advisory referendum question on issue.

The question voters will see: During the reconstruction of Fredonia Avenue, would you be willing to share in all costs to bury utilities even if some of the costs would be for doing work on private property and that the estimate of costs is between $600,000 and $1 million?

Village President Chuck Lapicola has been the leading advocate for the referendum, contending residents should have a say on such an important decision.

However, Lapicola warned that the informational session won’t provide specific answers about what the utility work would cost individual property owners, because engineering plans have yet to be prepared.

“What we want to do is answer questions that folks have and let people know how this will impact them. It’s to help them make a better decision during the referendum,” he said.

“We are ready to discuss the increase in taxes, possible changes in road width, need for cutting trees, etc. But, we don’t have a design, so we can’t be sure about any physical impact.”

The Village Board meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed