Plenty of projects are underway or are being discussed by the Newcastle City Council including the purchase of an acreage for economic development. Also going in is a new sewer line to be used for Fire Station 1 and the Newcastle Farms housing addition off of Main Street.
The Council also approved engineering services for a project to widen a portion of North Country Club Road, and a change in how the City is paying for signal lights at the U.S. Interstate 35 and State Highway 9 interchange.
These projects and others were either approved or discussed at the Council’s October regular meeting.
A contract which had not been finalized at the meeting, but was later approved by all the parties involved was for the City to purchase 9.69 acres to be used for economic development.
The acreage is at the southeast corner of Fox Lane and State Highway 62.
Mayor Karl Nail told the Newcastle Pacer that the purchase is a good deal for the City, for the landowners, and for the citizens of Newcastle.
He explained, “The City has a significant number of retail users who are looking in the Newcastle area and a lot of the land has been very tightly held.”
Nail said some property owners have been reluctant to sell their propety.
“The sellers of this property had no desire to be the developer of the property, and they have been approached,” Nail said. “They wanted to sell the property in its entirety to one seller. The City saw it as an opportunity to facilitate the development of that property.”
He said by doing so, the City can create lots that are available to end users who are interested in coming to town.
“This will benefit the city long term by the City obtaining sales tax from these business entities,” Nail said.
He said there are a lot of retailers looking, but none have committed at this time.
He said this will benefit the entire area, “With the hospital coming in the future, and the overall pattern of growth in the area, in not just Newcastle, but also Goldsby, Blanchard and Tuttle. All are seeing the same type of growth that Newcastle is.”
The mayor said the City needs to be in a position to have the retailers locate here, and to provide their services to Newcastle citizens.
He added, “One thing to note is that Highway 62 does much more than provide an outlet for people who live in Newcastle. Greater than 60% of traffic that travels 62 did not originate in Newcastle. This is an opportunity, as well, for those people to shop in Newcastle, and for the City to generate outside tax dollars.”
He said municipal government lives and dies by the retail sales tax dollar.
“These provide services to the citizens that they want, including roads, parks, and quality of life issues,” Nail said. “The City is going to be deliberate about how we design this property to maximize it for the citizens of the City. We’ll develop the plan, and then be ready when an end user is looking.” Sewer line going in on Main Street
Approval was given by the Coun- SEWER LINE on page 3 cil for the final plat of the Newcastle Farms housing development going in off Main Street just to the south of the new Fire Station 1. The new fire station is still under construction. Along with approval was an announcement of the building of 1,084 feet of sanitary sewer line along the highway to service the new construction.
City Manager Kevin Self said the job is being sent out to bid and will come back before the City Council, but he looks for construction to begin this December. Self said the City and the private development will share in the cost of the line’s construction since they will share the line.
He added that water service already exists in the area since there is a 12-inch line nearby the City and Newcastle Farms will be tapping into.
CEC gets go ahead for engineering for widening N. Country Club Road Engineering services was approved by the Council for a widening project for North Country Club Road, between N.W. 32nd Street and N.W. 24th Street. The successful bidder between two bidders was Civil Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC). Also bidding on the job was Crafton Tull.
CEC came in with a lower bid at $289,080 to Crafton Tull’s $316,167, but both bids had variables which could affect the bid either up or down, according to Self.
Newcastle’s Street Department will ultimately do some of the work on this project, he said, such as overseeing the laying of asphalt. The widening project also involves curb and gutters that will be constructed by an outside company, and also a drain box which will have to be removed and then replaced.
Self said the engineering work on the project will take about 12-13 months.
City, Goldsby to pay own way for signal lights
Although Newcastle has been paying for the upkeep of the signal lights at Interstate 35 and SH-9, Self said discussions began about 12 months ago with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the City of Goldsby for the two municipalities to split the costs of the lights’ upkeep.
Self said, “Newcastle has historically taken care of these expenses.”
Now, Newcastle will only be responsible for the north side of SH-9, and east and west of there that is in Newcastle’s jurisdiction. Self said the agreement should either keep maintenance costs the same for Newcastle, or it could reduce costs.
