Longview Parking Construction Grant in The Works

Monday night, Town and Country aldermen did not vote on on a proposed solar panel ordinance for the city. It was continued and could be voted on at the next meeting on Oct. 22.

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As previously reported by Patch, the City of Town and Country is considering an ordinance that would put guidelines in place for residents who want to install solar energy systems.  

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However, aldermen did vote Monday night to authorize Director of Parks and Recreation Anne Nixon to apply for a municipal park grant to be applied to the Longview Farm Park parking expansion project. 

The grant will be used for construction. This next step in the parking lot expansion project comes after Alderman Skip Mange, who also chairs the committee overseeing the parking project, updated aldermen on the plans for the expansion on Sept. 24. (Check back to Town and Country - Manchester Patch later this week for more on those plans and changes to the project.)

Prior to the Sept. 24 board of aldermen meeting, Mange said the next step was to apply for this construction grant. The construction cost estimate is $127,496. $122,496 is the estimated cost for construction and $5,000 for landscaping.  Mange said 95 percent of the construction cost will be covered by a grant, so the city will pay just over $6,000. 

A decision will come in January on whether the city will receive the grant. 

Currently, the total cost of the parking project is estimated at $141,916. Mange said $122,871 is set to be covered by grant money, so the city will pay $19,045 for the project.

Ultimately, grants will cover just over 86 percent of the project.

Before Monday's vote to apply for the construction grant, Alderman Jon Benigas pointed out that by applying for the grant, the city is committing to keeping, replacing and maintaining the Longview Park tennis courts. They are in need of repair within the next five years. Nixon said to apply new asphalt to the courts, which is the likely plan, could cost approximately $50,000. However, she said it's a project the city is aware needs to be done.

In June, aldermen voted to authorize the city to enter into an agreement with Sterling Engineering to bring an engineer on board and move forward with the Longview Farm parking expansion project. The vote also appropriated $15,000 for the engineering contract with Sterling Engineering. Mange tells Patch, a $4,000 planning grant will go toward this contract so the net cost to the city is $11,000.

See agenda and supporting documents in the PDF portion of this article for complete details. 

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