By: Darralee Mathews
Town manager, Janet Hawkinson, is looking for ways to put the funds collected from marijuana sales to maximum work for Palisade by matching them with grants.
To that end, the Town is applying for a matching funds grant for Highway 6 from Main Street to Iowa that will add a bike lane, improve the safety of crosswalks for Taylor Elementary students and residents of the town. This would include 6-foot sidewalks and 12-foot travel lanes, 6-foot bike lanes and a 20 foot median between each travel lane, creating a pedestrian “safety zone” which allows a pedestrian to wait if needed to finish crossing the road.
The matching funds would come from the Mesa County Regional Transportation Planning Office. Multimodal transportation systems of sidewalks, bike lanes, safe routes to school for children and helping senior citizens to age in place are criteria of the project types allowed by the grant. In addition, the Town has collected traffic impact fees from developments that can only be used for street work. Palisade has up to $440,000 at this time that can assist with some of the matching grant funds.
Another project in the works is to complete putting in sidewalks throughout town by next fall to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.
In other town doings
A DOLA grant is being requested for matching funds to study the best alignment of the consolidation of Palisade water treatment to go to Clifton Sanitation. The grant has been submitted to DOLA. If awarded the study will begin immediately upon award.
In January the town will be requesting a grant for assistance with updating the Town Comprehensive Plan. “We will begin work on updating the Master Plan in January,” Hawkinson said, “the plan will guide the town on prioritizing projects and smart growth for the town. “We are working to create the best professional services for the citizens of the town that includes best drinking water, waste-water service, trash service, EMT & police services as well as beautiful parks, maintained streets, and sidewalks,” she concluded.
