By JESSICA BRICKER
The county will seek additional right of way for a bridge project on County Road 500W.
The Wells County Commissioners — Mike Vanover, Jeff Stringer, and Blake Gerber — approved a request from County Engineer Nate Rumschlag Monday to fund a $22,100 supplemental agreement with the USI engineering firm due to issues with property owners on getting necessary right of way.
“Initial foundation design scope of work needs to change from the pile foundations proposed to a more complex spread footer and wingwall design due to the depth of rock encountered in the field and the skew of the ditch under the current small structure,” Rumschlag wrote in his report.
“Due to property owner resistance to the additional (right of way) needed for this small structure I am asking for USI to prepare detailed (right of way) requests for the minimum areas necessary for the final design. These (right of way) parcels will be sent to the county attorney for discussion on how best to approach acquisition of the necessary (right of way). I had hoped to avoid the additional costs associated with the (right of way) preparation work but following two separate attempts to contact the property owners, I believe I am left with no other option than to prepare these parcels and appraisals,” he added.
jessica@news-banner.com
