At their Dec. 9 meeting, Celina City Council members reviewed preliminary funding scenarios for downtown street reconstruction but did not take any action, instead opting to schedule a future special meeting to further discuss the potential financial impacts.
What happened
During the council’s strategic retreat earlier this year, council directed staff to prioritize reconstruction of downtown roads, according to city documents. Following that retreat, the city hired Halff and Associates to evaluate costs and develop plans for the construction.
Assistant City Manager Kimberly Brawner said the city’s long-term goal is to convert all downtown streets to concrete while also addressing drainage issues.
As staff review the city’s five-year capital improvement plan, they are seeking council’s guidance on how the projects should be funded and how long the city is willing to take to complete the construction work.
Brawner said rebuilding all downtown streets in concrete would involve 13 separate projects and would cost an estimated $179 million if constructed today.
Spreading the work over about 13 years, completing roughly one project per year, would increase the total cost to approximately $237 million due to inflation and rising construction costs, Brawner said.
Zooming in
Brawner presented three potential funding and construction options for council to consider:
- Option A: full concrete conversion in five years
- Rebuilds all downtown streets in concrete within five years
- Costs about $47 million per year
- Requires multiple construction projects at the same time
- Would require diverting funding from other city projects and could put the city in a deficit
- Option B: increase funding with a phased approach
- Increases annual downtown street funding from $5.5 million to $10 million.
- Requires diverting funding from the city’s street maintenance fund
- Could delay other planned roadway projects
- Includes some drainage improvements but fewer than Option A
- Option C: maintain current funding levels
- Keeps the current $5.5 million annual allocation
- Requires diverting funding from the city’s street maintenance fund
- Extends the project time significantly
“That is the ultimate solution,” Brawner said. “It’s just how fast we get there.”
What they’re saying
Mayor Ryan Tubbs said staff could potentially rearrange some of the city’s capital projects, such as improvements along Legacy Drive and Parvin Road, which are currently on hold. Tubbs noted he recently spoke with Prosper officials about the future improvements to Parvin Road.
“I had a conversation with Prosper, and they don’t know how they’re going to afford it, and they didn’t put it in their last bond,” Tubbs said.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Grumbles said he would prefer construction begin closer to downtown and expand outward to reduce impacts on local businesses.
“We don’t want to have happen here what’s happening here in Frisco where businesses are having to shut down in nine or 10 years from now,” Grumbles said.
Brawner noted though that construction will also largely depend on how it correlates with the various drainage basins in the town.
City Manager Robert Ranc said completing all-concrete downtown streets within roughly a decade would likely require removing other projects from the city’s capital plan.
“In order to do all concrete [roads], within as close to 10 years as possible ... it’s probably not something in that entire area that we can do without taking other projects off the table,” Ranc said.
Council member Andy Hopkins, who lives downtown, said council needs to prioritize fixing the downtown streets, particularly due to ongoing drainage problems that downtown homes are experiencing.
“Every heavy rain, we’re risking property damage,” Hopkins said. “[In] other neighborhoods, that wouldn’t fly.”
Grumbles noted the heavy rainstorms have been “tearing up” downtown properties’ foundations and said he’d prefer to ensure the drainage work is done simultaneously.
“I don’t see a point in doing the roads if we’re not going to do the drainage,” Grumbles said. “What’s the point in doing the roads just to tear it up and do the drainage later?”
One more thing
Several downtown street projects funded with 2024 and 2025 certificate of obligations are expected to start moving into construction, according to city documents, including:
- Pecan Street from Arizona Drive to Florida Drive, $3.2 million
- Oklahoma Drive from Pecan Street to Malone Street, $2.2 million
- Ohio Street and Louisiana Drive from Ash Street to the south end, $5.3 million
