The work will include repairs to sidewalks, gutters, curbs and some catch basins on the first two blocks of the street, he said, between Miami Street and West Church Street.
“It’s one of our main corridors and entrances into the city, and we’d like to take it phase by phase and see if we can’t get it upgraded,” Bumbalough said.
The project will cost about $114,000, he said, with about $40,000 coming from a Community Development Block Grant from the state.
The remaining cost will come from local funds, Bumbalough said.
“The next step is to actually bid the project,” he said. “At the county level we’ve decided to partner with the village of Mechanicsburg because they’re doing a similar…project.”
Bumbalough hopes the collaboration will cut down on the cost of the project.
Neighbors on North Oakland Street said repairs are long overdue.
“The sidewalks have been needing this for the last 15 years. They’ve been really breaking off, there are chunks of concrete now in the street,” John Vermillye said.
He lives with his wife, Yvonne, on one of the blocks that will be repaired.
“We’ve been waiting for them to do this for so long,” Yvonne Vermillye said.
City code states it’s the responsibility of the homeowner to repair sidewalks, Bumbalough said, but the city believes the repairs will benefit the community.
The city would like to continue repairs of other blocks of North Oakland Street in the future.
“Maybe we’ll be able to do another block next year,” he said.
Bumbalough expects repairs to begin this spring and to be completed in about a month.
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