The Hastings City Council on Monday, March 3 approved the next step in the city’s 2026 Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvements project, following a public hearing and discussion about the scope of work, assessments and how construction will affect nearby residents.
After hearing a presentation from the city’s consulting engineer and receiving no public comments during the hearing, the council voted unanimously to approve plans and specifications for the project and authorize staff to advertise for bids.
The project will focus on improvements to Pleasant Drive from Trunk Highway 55 to Fourth Street and Fourth Street West from Pleasant Drive to River Street, addressing aging pavement, underground utilities and pedestrian facilities along the corridor.
“This is part two of our three-part process for the neighborhood project,” consulting engineer Cody Matheson told council members during the meeting. “Tonight, we’re covering the proposed scope and features of the project and holding the public hearing.”
Matheson said the work is part of the city’s ongoing neighborhood infrastructure program, which targets streets and utilities that have reached the end of their useful life.
“If you’ve driven these streets recently, there’s plenty of failing pavement and curbing,” he said. “This also gives us a great opportunity to address aging utilities like water main and sanitary sewer while we’re doing the roadway improvements.”
The project will include a mix of pavement reclamation and full reconstruction depending on the condition of the roadway and underground utilities.
Some sections of Pleasant Drive and Fourth Street will receive a pavement reclamation, which reuses existing pavement materials to extend the road’s life while leaving curbs largely in place. Other segments, particularly portions of Fourth Street, will undergo full reconstruction to replace aging utilities and install new curb and gutter.
Matheson noted that the need for utility replacement has become increasingly clear.
“I think we’re up to three water main breaks in two years on Fourth Street near State,” he said. “It’s definitely overdue to be addressing the utilities in that portion.”
The project also includes pedestrian improvements guided by the city’s People Movement Plan.
A new 10-foot-wide trail will be built on the west side of Pleasant Drive, replacing the existing five-foot sidewalk. The trail will help extend an emerging trail corridor along Pleasant Drive connecting other existing segments in the area.
“This gets us one step closer to having a full trail system on the west side of Pleasant Drive,” Matheson said.
The project will also include repairs to the trail leading from Pleasant Drive and Fourth Street into Lions Park, which city staff said is currently in poor condition.
Traffic calming measures are also planned along the corridor.
One of the most significant design changes will occur at the intersection of Pleasant Drive and Whispering Lane. The proposed design narrows the roadway and removes some nearby parking to improve visibility for drivers entering Pleasant Drive.
“With the proposed design and that narrowing, we’re going to more than double the available sight distance,” Matheson said. “That means more time for drivers to see and react.”
Some changes are also proposed on Fourth Street, where angled parking near Tilden would be removed and replaced with parallel parking spaces.
Police officials have expressed concerns in the past about vehicles backing out of angled parking stalls onto collector streets.
The total estimated cost of the project is approximately $4.8 million, including construction and engineering costs.
About $1.2 million of the cost is tied to water, sewer and other utility work, while $3.6 million is associated with street and storm sewer improvements.
A portion of the project will be funded through special assessments on benefiting properties. Current estimates place the total assessment amount at roughly $680,000.
Council member Lisa Leifeld asked how assessments were calculated in areas where fewer homes front the street.
“It appears that there are some pretty big sections that don’t have homes,” Leifeld said, pointing to areas along Pleasant Drive and Fourth Street. “How did we look at assessment rates?”
Matheson said the city’s assessment methodology focuses on properties that directly benefit from the improvements. Properties with only rear frontage along the roadway are typically not assessed.
“So traditionally, when homes only have rear frontage, they’re not assessed for that roadway,” he said.
Leifeld said she wanted residents to understand that property owners are not charged more simply because there are fewer homes along certain sections of the project.
“For those listening who haven’t been to these meetings before, what I heard you say is homeowners aren’t being charged additional or more than another homeowner just because there aren’t as many driveways facing the street,” she said.
“That is correct,” Matheson responded.
A separate public hearing on the proposed assessments will be held April 6.
Council member Mya Beck, who said she frequently travels the corridor, asked how construction would affect traffic during the project.
“I live in that little corner,” Beck said. “I use Pleasant and Fourth as my way to go everywhere in town.”
Matheson said city staff will work with contractors to stage construction in phases to minimize disruptions.
“The primary goal with this project is going to be not having both roads in full construction at the same time,” he said.
However, he cautioned that there may still be short periods when detours are unavoidable.
“There may be a time when we have no way to send you but the long way around,” he said. “But we’ll try to minimize the duration of that.”
Following discussion, Council member Dave Pemble made a motion to approve the resolution authorizing the project to move forward to bidding. The motion passed unanimously.
City officials expect to advertise the project for bids later this spring, with construction potentially beginning in early May and continuing through the 2026 construction season.