Water tower: City chooses location for new south water tower

Talk about it

Jamestown will add a new water tower to the south side of the city. The Jamestown Public Works Committee approved a plan to build the tower in the I-94 Business Park west of the Infinity Builders location during its regular meeting on Tuesday.

“This will serve the entire south part of Jamestown,” said Travis Dillman, project engineer with Interstate Engineering. “Everything on the hill from the new hospital in the west to the State Hospital in the east.”

Mayor Katie Andersen said the location of the tower concerned her but was also an opportunity.

“I’m concerned that the land in the industrial park should be used for business,” she said. “But it is an opportunity in the tower could be painted to promote the city.”

The planned location is currently owned by the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.

A location to the east of Infinity Builders was eliminated because it was on state-owned property and would require legislative approval to sell to the city. A location west of Walmart was deemed too costly because of possible paint splatter on businesses in the area during tower painting.

The approval only dealt with the water tower’s location. Plans are still being developed for construction of the 750,000-gallon tower. Preliminary cost estimates place the entire project, including necessary water mains to carry water to the tower, at about $4.1 million.

The city hopes to start construction this fall with completion by fall 2013.

The Public Works Committee also approved about $95,000 to replace radios that transmit data from the lift and pump stations of the water and sewer system to the water treatment plant operating center. The replacement is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission as part of an effort to reduce the number of frequencies used by radio systems.

Jason Sand, project engineer for AE2S Engineering, also suggested the city plan for the replacement of the controls, radios and computers associated with the water and waste water systems over the next several years. Total cost of the project is about $800,000.

“This is something that could ultimately result in higher water rates,” said Jeff Fuchs, city administrator.

Reed Schwartzkopf, city engineer, said the electronic control systems were necessary.

“If we don’t keep this equipment up we may have to drive the system every day to monitor the system,” he said, meaning city staff would have to physically visit all the pumps every day to make sure they are working.

Sand also said the emergency sirens in Jam­­estown should be updated with heaters to allow operation during the winter.

“There is a problem with fuses blowing if the sirens are used in the winter because of ice buildup,” he said. “Heaters are options but were never installed because the thought was the sirens were never used in the winter.”

Schwartzkopf said emergencies could occur at any time and the lack of sirens was a safety issue.

A motion to authorize $16,000 for upgrades to the sirens passed unanimously.

In other action, the Jamestown Building, Planning and Zoning Committee authorized its legal counsel to prepare a new ordinance allowing real estate developers to finance up to 75 percent of the cost of infrastructure through special assessments.

The details of the ordinance, including any additional bonding requirements for developers, will be worked out after the draft ordinance is prepared.

“It would be a help to developers,” said Charlie Kourajian, city councilman. “But we need to be cautious we do this only on projects that will come to fruition.”

Currently, developers are required to pay cash up front for water, sewer and gravel streets and are allowed to get special assessments for pavement and gutter for developments.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, water