Dateline: September 11, 2003

Voters to decide fate of city paving project

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Clarendon voters will head to the polls this Saturday, September 13, to decide the fate of a $2.5 million comprehensive paving plan.

Balloting will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and registered city voters will be given the choice of being “for” or “against” the issuance of certificates of obligation to pay for the project.

If approved, the plan calls for crowning 152 blocks of streets, laying down two-course penetration paving and installing curbs and gutters. The plan calls for six-inch curbs and two-foot gutters on both sides of the streets. The streets will be 31 feet wide measuring from the backs of the curbs, and the paving will extend from gutter to gutter.

The curb and gutter system serves two purposes. First, it controls and directs runoff water. Second, it protects the edge of the paving from deterioration, thereby extending the life of the paving.

The certificates of obligation would be paid for over a 20-year period at a cost to the city of approximately $200,000 per year. Revenue to make those payments would come from a 15-cent ad valorem tax, an increase in the month water charge of $1.10, and an increase in the monthly sewer charge of $10. In addition, the Clarendon Economic Development Corporation will budget $20,000 per year from its sales tax revenue to help pay for the project.

The cost to the average homeowner in Clarendon will be $184 per year or $15.35 per month or less than 51 cents per day.

North-south streets on the plan are as follows (in bold print): Jackson Street between Cooke and Wood; Hawley Street between Cooke and Barcus; McClelland Street between Cooke and Montgomery; Goodnight Street between Cooke and Montgomery; Carhart Street between Browning and Second; Gorst Street between Burkhead and Fourth; Kearney Street between Wood and Fourth; Jefferson Street between Eighth and Fifth; Parks Street between Ninth and Second; Taylor Street between Eighth and Second; Ellerbe Street between Eighth and Third; Bond Street between Eighth and Fifth; McLean Street between Eighth and Clarendon Ave.; Collinson Street between Eighth and Clarendon Ave.; Johns Street between Eighth and Sixth; Leroy Street between Eighth and Fifth; and Cottage Street between Seventh and Fifth.

East-west streets on the plan are as follows (in bold print): Cooke Street between Goodnight and Jackson; Browning Boulevard between Carhart and Jackson; Burkhead Street between Gorst and Jackson; Barcus Street between Gorst and Jackson; Montgomery Street between Kearney and Goodnight; Wood Avenue between Kearney and Goodnight; Eighth Street between Cottage and Bugbee and between Koogle and Jefferson; Seventh Street between Cottage and Bugbee and between Koogle and Kearney; Sixth Street between Cottage and Bugbee and between Koogle and Goodnight; Fifth Street between Gorst and Hawley; Fourth Street between Koogle and Jefferson; and Third Street between Collinson and Bugbee.