Can you please update us on the timeline on the start of the mill and overlay of Highland Drive in Oak Park and the start of the new basketball courts where the old tennis courts were at Panther Park, aka Eddie Mason Park?
The funds for Highland Drive are expected to be available this month. Engineering staff are working on the design for the project and hope to advertise for bids in February or March. A late spring or early summer construction date is anticipated. Design on the Oak Park basketball courts should be complete by spring 2024, with a summer bid/construction targeted. Both projects were approved in the 2020 General Obligation Bond Election.
A water question
Is there a good reason we aren’t purchasing water from Oolagah Lake?
Yes, there is. There are no water rights available at Oolagah Lake.
Another one
Since Copan Lake levels are down and it’s dry, could we not make the lake deeper? If we have a dirt company dig it deeper, wouldn’t that help? It would be kind of what we did with Lee Lake, except we wouldn’t have to pump water out.
From Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen:
The simple answer to this question is yes: If the lake was deeper, it could hold more water once replenished. Copan Lake has lost approximately 11 percent of its storage from sedimentation since being completed in 1983.
However, the process to excavate within a federally-owned lake — Copan Lake is owned by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers — is complex. Current regulations require:
- Engineering/Environmental study to determine exactly where excavation would take place and where that excavated material would be discarded
- Sampling is required to determine if any hazardous material exists within the sediment being removed. Note that nearly all fish have trace amounts of mercury that can be deposited in the sediment, and there are a number of other contaminants that would have to be tested for. The results of this sampling can greatly impact the costs, if the material is deemed hazardous by federal laws, the City would have to truck the material to a hazardous landfill site
- Impact study for the lake’s aquatic environment (excavation must have no adverse impact)
- Approval with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to perform the work
The study portion would take at least six months, approval through the Corp of Engineers would take another three months, and once we received authorization from the Corps, it would take us another 90 days to select a contractor and begin work, as State law mandates a certain process be followed to ensure competitive bidding. Best case, it would take approximately a year to perform the study, secure the required permits and begin work. Worth noting is that permits issued through the Corp are valid for five years.
From a cost perspective, this is highly variable depending on what the studies discover. From a ballpark perspective, the planning effort will likely cost between $3 million and $6 million, while the construction portion will likely range between $30 million to $60 million.
The City has not pursued excavation/dredging Copan Lake due to the high costs and limited benefit that would be gained. There are more cost effective options available.
For more information, see Water 101.
Adams reminder
Do you know if the State has any near future plans to resurface Adams Blvd (Highway 60) and restripe it? Adams is getting pretty rough and at night, especially when it rains, you can’t see the lane striping.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation plans to resurface Highway 60 in 2025. We talked about it most recently in October: https://www.cityofbartlesville.org/qa-odot-us-60-project-still-slated-2025/