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- Commissioners discuss landscaping plans for county building
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Plans for the landscaping of the county building grounds are being considered.
Rick Carlton, commissioner, presented plans for the remodeling of the outside of the county building along with the estimated costs of each step of the project. He presented an overhead projection of the costs and the various kinds of trees which could be considered.
He said he had added two prospective items to the list considered by the commission in past discussions. Those were removal of the parking lot to the north of the building and the removal and replacement of the entrance stairs on the west.
"We will walk out there this morning and look at the area I am proposing for a new parking area," said Carlton.
As for the plantings, he said, he had consulted a horticulturist with the extension service as to which trees would be best for the grounds.
"Six trees will be needed and oaks, maples and elms were suggested," said Carlton. "We need to look at the kinds but the cost is estimated at $300 per tree."
Taun Beddes, Utah State University Extension Horticulturist and KSL host, talked with Carlton for over an hour and made recommendations on the trees that would work best for the county building site.
"We will need to select from the various recommendations," said Carlton.
A sprinkling system estimated to be approximately $1,200 is needed.
The commission can also select between hydroseed grass and sod. The first option is the least expensive at $1,642 and the sod would be most expensive at $3,421.
"We will need to discuss the benefits of each before deciding," said Clinton Painter, commission chairman.
Hydroseeding is nearly one-fourth the cost of sod. But installation costs can be offset by the adaptability of timing, lower water needs and year-round installation.
As for types of trees to be selected, local soil causes some problems with some types of trees as certain types become yellow either from over-watering or for lack of iron in the soil.
"There are some problems with ash trees because there is a disease that they can get," he said. "Elms grow faster and can reach 45- to 50-feet at maturity. They can grow up to an inch a year."
Five flowering crabapple trees are being suggested for the lawn on the north. Those would cost approximately $200 each.
"He suggested that we do not put plants, not even bushes, in the parking strip," said Carlton. "His suggestion was that we just pave over that strip."
It was also suggested that the trees not be planted until spring.
"The trees will be planted in line with the flag pole on the west," said Carlton.
Decorative rock will be another $300 onto the budget.
Sidewalk in front of the building and to the north of the building will be needed. That concrete work will cost in the neighborhood of $9,600 and, since the north side steps need to be replaced since they are separating from the building, will add another $3,600.
Kyle Marchant, Nephi City public works director, and he had conferred about the city and county property landscaping projects which are going on at the same time.
The old stairs in front of the county building will be replaced but the rest of the property will be sloped and can be walked up from street level to the sidewalk.
Railing on the stairs to the north of the building will match the railing on the south side. That railing was recently redone when the entrance was made wheelchair friendly thanks to a grant given to the clerk's office after being applied for by Alaina Lofgran, clerk/auditor.
The new railing will cost approximately $3,500.
There was also road department work which had been done to remove the diseased trees and to do the ground work creating the slope.
"In all, the total for all proposed projects comes to $40,500," said Carlton. "We appropriated $60,000."
That left some money to remove the parking lot to the north and put it back down. Including the two extra projects would put the county over budget by $6,000.
"The north stairs are settling and pulling away from the building," said Byron Woodland, commissioner. "I think they need to be done but what would the demolition costs be?"
The demolition costs were not included but would be reasonable, Carlton said. It would cost $1,500 to rent the chipper for one day and the job could be done in just that one day. It would also require two men and a dump truck and, in total, would take somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 to do the job.
A reimbursement from Nephi City of $3,000 would likely pay for the demolition.
"Complete removal of the asphalt in the north parking lot would allow us to expand the space 4-feet on the north and 3-feet to the west," said Carlton. "We would also take out and replace the concrete border so that vehicles can't drive over the border and hit the wall of the building."
If the front stairs were removed, he said, they may have to be built a "tad" bigger to meet new building codes. The stair treads may need to be made wider.
He had used his concrete calculator on his computer and that had estimated the cost of the rebuild using a $6 per square foot cost.
"As long as we maintain the historical value of the building, I am OK," said Woodland.
Roses at the front of the building will not be replaced because they are too high in maintenance.
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