ACTION REQUESTED:
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Communication from the City Manager and Director of Public Works with a Request to APPROVE Payment, in the Amount of $9,900.00, to VRG PROPERTY COMPANIES for Right-of-Way Acquisition of a Portion of Parcel 18-18-281-039, 1037 S. WESTERN AVENUE, for the Proposed WESTERN AVENUE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT. (Council District 1)
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BACKGROUND: Construction of the Western Avenue Improvement project from Adams Street to Howett Street is scheduled to begin late Spring, 2020. The design of Western Avenue follows Complete, Green Streets infrastructure policies, including permeable paver bike lanes, new sidewalks, pedestrian-scale street lighting, native landscaping and a new roadway. The construction cost is estimated at $12 million, and the cost is supported by approximately $2.3 million in federal funding.
Staff is negotiating temporary and permanent easements with more than one hundred (100) adjacent property owners to allow the future contractor to build the new improvements. The appraisal and negotiation process is mandated by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) as a condition of using federal funding for the project.
To accommodate the proposed accessible sidewalk ramps at the northwest corner of the intersection of Western Avenue and Garden Street, the city needs to acquire a small portion of the adjacent, subject property. A temporary easement is also required along the Western Avenue and Garden Street frontages of the subject property to blend in the grading for the new sidewalks.
The subject property was a former gas station and was acquired by the current owner as a result of a bankruptcy proceeding. The current owner has proposed a Special Warranty Deed, covering the period of their ownership, to convey the small portion of Right-of-Way. IDOT has indicated that this document will be acceptable.
Attachments to this Council Communication include all necessary documents, red-line documents showing the changes proposed b...
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