Downtown St. Cloud Street Project Fails to Move Forward

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A downtown St. Cloud street improvement project has failed to move forward.

During Monday night's city council meeting, they heard a plan from city staff on a more than $2.9 million project for West St. Germain Street from 10th to 12th Avenue, along with 11th Avenue North from West St. Germain Street to 1st Street North.

The plan included replacing the sanitary sewer and water mains that are over 100 years old.  Staff wanted to replace those pipes along with doing some streetscaping including ornamental lighting, tree plantings, and colored stamped concrete.  It would have also added a bike lane.

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Five city council members voted in favor of the project and two voted against it, however, it needed a six-vote super majority to pass.  Council members George Hontos and Mike Conway voted it down saying they were in favor of replacing the old pipes but didn't want to spend money on enhanced streetscaping.

The total cost for the project would be about $200,000 less without the added enhancements.

Council President Jeff Goerger said he was in favor of the street improvements because it would be the first step in showing the public the city is serious about improving the look of the downtown.

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