×

City Officials Discuss West Third Street Redesign

Several city officials discussing the redesign of West Third Street during a public meeting held at Healing Word Ministries Church, located at 1006 W. Third St., on Monday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

About two dozen people attended a meeting to learn more about the West Third Street redesign project that will be happening this summer.

On Monday, several city officials discussed the project with residents who live along West Third Street between Hall Avenue and Hallock Street. Mark Roetzer, city assistant civil engineer, said along with planting new trees to replace the “Cathedral Oaks” that were cut down more than a year ago, other improvements like the new sidewalks, aprons and candlestick light poles will also be installed.

Roetzer said another important aspect of the redevelopment of West Third Street will be burying electric lines underground, which will help the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities maintain them. Currently, the lines are located behind houses and BPU employees, at times, have issues accessing the lines. He said the infrastructure for the lines to be buried in front of residential properties will happen this summer.

City officials hope to have a contractor in place for the project by the beginning of May. Roetzer said the project will start sometime between the middle of May and middle of June. He said a block at a time will be done. He added that some people will not be able to access their driveway when the project is being done on their block.

One of the questions asked during the meeting was if all the same tree will be planted again similar to how the oak trees used to be along West Third Street. Dan Stone, city parks manager and arborist, said a variety of trees will be planted to prevent disease or an insect like the emerald ash borer from destroying all the trees. He said property owners will have a choice between four to five trees that can be planted in front of their houses.

“There is room for selection for sure,” he said.

Another question asked was if this project will be done along all entryways to the city. Jeff Lehman, city public works director, said the project is only being planned for West Third Street because of having to cut down more than 40 oak trees a couple of years ago.

In December 2020, city officials announced during a special meeting of the Jamestown Parks, Recreation & Conservation Commission the decision to cut down the 43 oak trees, most of them more than 100 years old. At the time, Stone said during a wind storm on Nov. 15, 2020, two oak trees, with some of them as tall as 150 to 200 feet tall, were blown down, with one landing on a residential garage. In October 2019, a large oak toppled down, with portions of the tree landing on a residential house.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today