RIVER FALLS — Some changes could be headed to West Locust Street and the surrounding area as the River Falls City Council approved engineering design services for the extension of the street. The motion was approved 6-1 with Alderperson Jeff Bjork voting against it Feb. 17.

According to city documents, the city desires to connect the water main from Apollo Road with the water main from West Locust Street, creating a water system loop. In addition, they believe the connection would lighten the traffic burden on Maple Street and provide a more direct path to Main Street.

River Falls received four bids for the design of the project that were put through a rubric of cost, project understanding/scope of services and project team/experience. Stantec Consulting Services had the highest graded bid with a score of 98 of 100, seven higher than the next closest. The Stantec bid also came in over $10,000 lower than any other bid at $80,631.

The Oak Hill development is located at West Locust Street and Apollo Road and is expected to reconstruct a portion of Apollo Road. Developer contributions make up 33% of the funding source, followed by tax levy at 25%, water utility funds at 20%, sewer utility funds at 17% and stormwater utility at 5%.

An additional task included in the project is to pave the gravel portion of Apollo Road.

“The biosolids project at the Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) involves paving a portion of the parking lot in 2025. Thus, an alternate was included to design the paving of the remaining gravel portion of Apollo Road between the WWTF and the paved portion of Apollo Road,” city documents state.

The approval was for the design to be created, so some exact details are likely to come at a later date.
Bjork pulled the item from the agenda to ask a handful of questions. He first asked when the city determined there was a need to extend the road as a whole instead of just the water main, as he only saw the need for the water main itself.

Alderperson Diane Odeen cited a piece of the memorandum stating where the need was identified.

“The West Locust Street extension was designated as a future roadway via Ordinance 2018-15 in the City’s Official Map on November 27, 2018. This project is identified in the 2024-2028 CIP, with design in 2025 and construction in 2026,” city documents state.

City Administrator Scot Simpson said the continued development of the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Oak Hill development that is in progress featuring 62 single family homes and 30 twin homes were reasons the city viewed the extension as a logical next step.

“Coming through Locust is more of an industrial area, currently zoned industrial through there,” Simpson said. “Truck traffic and other things that we would be using to access the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the cold storage, I think are better served through Locust instead of kind of running down Winter to Maple and then back up Apollo.”

Simpson said it was not one specific reason that caused staff to recommend this, rather a combination of a handful of reasons.

Other Business

• Approved the rezoning of 807 W Locust St., the release of an easement and a vacation and discontinuance of an unpaved alley at the property. As discussed at the Jan. 28 meeting, the River Falls School District requested this approval from the city to construct an administration and maintenance building next to the district’s transportation center.
• Approved River Falls Business Leaders’ requests for street closure, open container and noise control exemptions and city assistance for 2025 events.

Simpson said most of the Biosolids facility is constructed and it is on track to begin operations in the fall. The fire station and library are both still in the design stage