The Urbana City Council continued its debate over responsibility for sewer construction at its meeting Tuesday.
The debate over who should pay for repairs to laterals in the public right-of-way has been a topic of debate at city council meetings over the past few weeks. Residents from the Ellis subdivision are concerned about which of five options the council will choose. If the city chooses to only pay for repairs to laterals in the public right-of-way, such as under sidewalks or roads, those residents with laterals under personal property would not benefit.
In April, Diane Marlin, Ward 7, said the city does not have the money to take over the laterals, and it would take an increase in revenue or drastic cuts to make this possible.
Reverend Evelyn Underwood, a resident of the Ellis subdivision, explained why some residents are concerned about the main sewer line on their property aside from repair expenses.
“There are many people I talked to this weekend who have the main located on their front yard or their personal property,” Underwood said. “They are interested in putting shelters there because of all of the tornadoes.”
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Public Works Director Bill Gray said the city is willing to work with residents on a case-by-case basis on building storm shelters.
The council moved the ordinance to next week, with a recommendation of adopting the second out of five options, which states that the city assumes responsibility for all repairs to the sewer laterals in the public right-of-way.
Other issues discussed Tuesday included discussing options for new city street signage, designating Walnut St. as a one-way street, building streetlights on campus property close to Urbana property, gaining a “silver level” nomination as a bike-friendly community and making improvements to the bicycle master plan, approving the city’s capital improvement plan, implementing a rule on buying kegs in Urbana and keeping Carle committed to paying its share of property taxes within the city.
The council agreed to table the keg rule until further research could be done on it and to require Carle to pay property taxes, despite a new state law saying otherwise.
Janelle can be reached at jnodea2@dailyillini.com.
