Eau Claire (WQOW) - When you talk about downtown Eau Claire these days, one
street always seems to come up, and Tuesday night, the city council made a
decision about it. There's been a lot of
action along South Barstow lately. The
proposed confluence project impacts a number of buildings. The street is also being rebuilt, which has
affected a number of businesses.
Tuesday night, the city council
voted to move forward with special assessment fees for South
Barstow. This year, the city will tear up the road and
repave. It's unknown yet how each
business will owe. The city says this is
a typical procedure for construction projects.
The fees will help pay for things like lighting, sidewalks, landscaping
and curbs.
"We can't picture
the streetscape yet because there's so many loose ends. It should be good if we
get our street designed properly and it should be an upgrade for our downtown,"
says Dan
Goelzer, Purple Petunia and Calico Shoppe owner.
As reconstruction moves forward, some
questions are being raised about changes that were already made. Barstow
and Graham recently went two-way. Last
week, we reported about the concerns some business owners have about loading
zones blocking traffic.
"We need to take a
look at that now that it's been in place for about four or five months and look
at what can we do different so that if we do that, make some changes, when we
do the reconstruction this summer we can incorporate those changes into the
signage and the pavement markings and so on when we reconstruct the street," says Brian Amundson, the
city's public works director.
The city will be holding another
public session on the Barstow Street
reconstruction next Wednesday night at seven o'clock at the RCU building.
