Water lines in Jackson are too small to adequately supply for current and future demand, said city engineer Erica Bogenpohl.

“There is a need to upgrade the water system, and we would like to start in uptown Jackson,” she said.

She said current 2-inch and 4-inch lines are not adequate to supply firefighting efforts from hydrants or sprinkler systems.

“The lines we have in place were installed 50 years ago or more,” she said. “They were adequate at the time, but we are nearing the limits of what we can do with the existing system.”

The town-hall style meeting Thursday was intended to inform uptown merchants of goals and potential effects of upcoming upgrade work.

Bogenpohl gave a brief presentation, including a map of the area highlighting the work’s route, and said, “Our contractor is drawing up plans right now. If we continue with the project on the timeline we’ve proposed, work will begin mid-April.”

Bogenpohl said upgrades are part of an $11.5 million bond voters approved in August 2015 that will include installing 8-inch water lines in several sites around the city, as well as a new well and water tower.

“This is only a small part of the improvement project you’ll be seeing all over Jackson in the next seven to eight years,” Bogenpohl said. “Added to the economic improvements we have planned, beginning work on the 100 block of South High Street and the 100 block of Main Street would be better sooner rather than later. But we want to be sensitive to current owners’ wants and needs.”

Mayor Dwain Hahs said one aspect of these improvements already has occurred.

“If you look at the area on Main Street by Hubble Creek,” Hahs said, “you see the neighboring businesses were able to remain open while construction was underway. We don’t want to disrupt anyone’s business.”

Merchants expressed concern the upgrade timeline might interfere with a busy time of year.

“My concern is that’s Mother’s Day and prom,” said Becky Gockel of Sweetheart Florist in Jackson. “But I guess there’s always something happening that would conflict. This is work that needs to be done.”

Bogenpohl said the projected time frame for substantial completion of the project is 60 days.

“We will stipulate in our contract with the contractor that they will have only 30 feet of open trench at one time,” she said. “The entire street would not be closed at the same time.”

Accounting for equipment and worker vehicles, 50 feet of space likely would be taken up but, she said, “we can look into asking the workers to park their vehicles elsewhere, perhaps in the lots behind the buildings.”

Bob Schooley of the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization said he would like to see additional development possibilities for new businesses upgrades to the water system would provide.

“Even if someone chose to come in and buy a building, put in a restaurant, they can’t install a sprinkler system, which the fire code says they need,” Schooley said. “I see this as prohibitive from an economic development standpoint.”

Bogenpohl thanked attendees for their feedback, and said she would be contacting more business owners to determine the best course of action.

“We won’t have a schedule until we decide when to begin the project,” she said. “If we continue and get the ball rolling on this project, we would have the majority of the work completed by early June. If we delay, we would likely be interrupting Homecomers or Oktoberfest. But we will listen to and address the concerns of those affected.”

She said a decision likely will be forthcoming “in the near future, and work will commence.”

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

100 block South High Street, Jackson, Mo.

100 block Main Street, Jackson, Mo.