City to fix major washout problem

McCOOK, Neb. — Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act will be used for a drainage project scheduled on U.S. Highway 83. With the rest of the consent agenda items, the McCook City Council on Monday night approved the plans and specifications for the project, as well as Oct. 11, 2022, at 2:30 p.m., as the date to receive bids for the project. No consent agenda items were pulled by the council for discussion.

This project concerns the repair of a major washout that has occurred the past several years on the east side of U.S. Highway 83, north of the Nebraska Public Power District office.

The project will include the repair of an existing corrugated metal culvert under a platted street in the Four Corners Addition and installing a concrete drainage channel and culvert pipe to get the water to the bottom of the canyon. The most difficult item will be the cleaning out and filling in of the washout, as in some places it’s up to 20 feet deep with nearly vertical sides and the area is overgrown with small trees, according to the city manager’s report.

The meeting began Monday night with public hearings for a minor subdivision application, a zoning change and voluntary annexation for a lot owned by Jerry Gohl.

Gohl is requesting that the tract of land he owns north of West J Street, north of the McCook Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, be divided from a larger tract and to be known as Heritage Pointe Addition No. 2. The property consists of a lot directly west of a dental office (on Heritage Pointe No. 1) on West J, that Gohl plans to develop for commercial purposes. Water and sewer are already in place. He requested the property’s current zoning of Residential Medium Density and Agriculture be changed to Business Commerical, which is compatible with the city’s Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use map. He also asked the city to annex portions of the property that are outside city limits but inside the city’s two-mile jurisdiction, so that all of the property will be within city limits.

The city council unanimously approved all requests, as well as a preliminary plat for a potential development called Heritage Pointe Addition. Located north of the lot behind the dental office, that property, if developed, would be used for commercial purposes and would include seven lots on one side, six lots on the other side and “Heritage Drive Street” that would run north and south to a future “West N” Street, according to the preliminary plat. If developed, the property would need drainage work, water and sewer.

The preliminary plat will be filed with the city; if the property is developed, a final plat will need to be created for the subdivision before it can be available for sellable, individual lots.