City will pave Sixth Avenue this summer
Sixth Avenue West will undergo a paving project later this year.
The city of Columbia Falls will look to repave Sixth Avenue West this summer.
The road is one of the main streets to the high school.
The city will use about $231,000 in gas tax funds from last year and this year to fund the bulk of the project. City manager Susan Nicosia suggested the city use some of its tax increment finance funds to pay for the remainder of the job, which is expected to cost more than $300,000.
The city sent out a request for bids on Sunday.
In other city council news from last week:
• The council went over more thoughts on its 20-year-old extension of services plan. Some impediments to expansion are as true today as they were 20 years ago, including expense of extending water and sewer lines and geographical barriers, like the Flathead River.
The railroad line to the north and west is also a bit of a challenge, as every line that crosses under it needs to go through an approval process by BNSF Railway.
• Councilman Doug Karper raised concerns about some developers cutting trees down to the Flathead River’s edge along Riparian Drive. Under city law, trees cannot be cut down past a certain point on the river bank.
• In other river news, Mayor Don Barnhart suggested the city look at ways of stabilizing the bank at River’s Edge Park. Doing so will require federal permits. The city loses several feet of river bank each year due to erosion from the Flathead River.