By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Another salvo was fired in the continued disagreement over the small Scott Boulevard bridge in South Hutchinson.
South Hutchinson City Administrator Joseph Turner announced Friday afternoon that Avenue F will be closed to complete a planned waterline replacement project. The closure is slated to begin on Monday, Aug. 2, and last for approximately 90 days.
Avenue F will be open to local residents only and vendors directly providing goods and service to them. Barricades will be erected at the railroad tracks.
Turner says he was notified Friday that the contractor is preparing to start the project, which as a coincidence, carries a $700,000 price tag. That is the same cost as the bridge that needs replacing. Turner says the project follows two years of nonstop leaks that he claims were caused by trucks from Reno County Public Works.
Closing the road leaves Public Works no way in or out of its facility with heavy equipment. It's the latest in the ongoing argument over who owns the small span.
County Commissioner Ron Hirst noted Friday morning that the county cannot legally spend money on the span, but said they would offer any services that they legally can provide to come up with a resolution to the problem.
The road was being kept by both parties, but claim the road was annexed by the city. The city and county used funds under a link agreement. When the state determined that three South Hutchinson Streets — Scott Boulevard, Blanchard and 6th Avenue — were not connecting links and that the county could not share in that funding, the county terminated all link agreements on the three streets.
There could be questions raised about land just to the east of Scott Boulevard that was not annexed by the city and whether half of the road is a township road. The county says when the streets were annexed, the entire street became the city’s property and that was agreed upon by the city.
In a letter to County Administrator Randy Partington, Turner stated that they would allow Public Works to store some light vehicles in the city Public Works yard until the project is finished. He said that he wanted to give county Public Works time to relocate heavy equipment before closing the road.
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