Town progresses on river project

Town Engineer Chuck Bartlett said that the town has made solid progress with their portion of the North Platte River Restoration Project.

Bartlett claims that he has compiled an exhaustive list of contact information for people who live alongside the river.

Despite a complete list, Bartlett or the town of Saratoga have not made any contact with residents. He says he is waiting until the plans for the project are finalized to start making contact with residents.

“Right now it’s kind of hard to tell people what is going to happen when we don’t know what is going to happen,” Bartlett said.

Approval from every person residing alongside the river is essential in order for the project to move forward. For that reason, Bartlett says he does not want to propose hypothetical scenarios that might turn people off to the project.

“Since they don’t have the conceptual designs done, my preference is to kind of wait and then tell people what is being proposed instead of saying ‘these are some of the options’ and then have people say ‘I don’t want this or that in front of my house’ when that might not be the case,” Bartlett said.

Representatives from Stantec have also been sent copies of the utility crossings and the pedestrian bridges. During the December public meeting, these structures were unknown to Stantec.

Another meeting on the project will take place sometime in April. Bartlett said he is waiting for Stantec to set the final meeting date.