Oregon and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) have entered into an agreement that allows the city to proceed with the first phase of the Navarre Avenue and I-280 Gateway Landscaping Project.

The first phase includes the construction of the mound, relocation of existing trees, and planting of material supplied by ODOT.

ODOT’s funding for plantings is about $7,000 while the city’s cost for the first phase is $20,000.

“Almost two years ago, this gateway project was brought up before you,” Mayor Mike Seferian said to council at a meeting on July 11. “The ultimate solution was that we decided to go through with this program. I enter into these types of programs rather cautiously because they can provide an ongoing expense for the city. But we feel it would be a nice touch to the city to enhance our entranceway from I-280. We will have new costs to the upkeep for this type of project. So we’ll see how this goes. I do not want to do a lot of these types of projects, but it was your choice to go forward. I did not object.”

The second phase of the project will be incorporated into the Navarre Avenue Beautification Project, which will be funded by a $468,113 Transportation Enhancement Program grant for 2014. This phase includes:

• Enhancing the green space at the I-280 exit ramp to Navarre Avenue with decorative boulders spelling “Oregon,” irrigation, and landscape lighting;

• Replacing the existing gravel shoulders on Navarre Avenue, just west of the I-280 exit ramp to the CSX railroad, with bioswales, a five-foot wide paved shoulder, a permeable concrete strip, and a five-foot wide sidewalk;

• Adding 18 decorative street light poles along the north side of Navarre Avenue between Wheeling Street and Coy Road to existing pedestals.

The city’s share of the cost for the second phase is $117,028, which will go toward the installation of light poles along Navarre Avenue.

The city’s expense of $20,000 for Phase 1 is for construction of the actual mounding and for labor costs of the plantings.

“We are hiring a landscaper to do the plantings. We’re also hiring a contractor to bring in the dirt and do the mounding,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman.

The plantings, or Phase 1, will occur this summer. The plantings will be provided by ODOT, said Roman.

The second phase would be awarded at the earliest in the summer of 2013, he said.

The city’s responsibility for maintenance and upkeep is mainly to provide water to the plantings.

“It’s pretty much taken care of, just the mound and the plantings on it as well as the other plantings that are installed in this project. That is our responsibility for a five-year period, as part of this agreement,” said Roman.

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