Downtown businesses weigh in on Carson Street construction

Construction of the downtown corridor of North Carson Street is now in full swing since the March 7 groundbreaking, and already changes have begun taking shape.

Landscaping in the center median has been removed so construction crews can access utility pipes located underneath the street, and some side streets and crosswalks are temporarily closed during this phase of the project.

Downtown Carson Street has also been reduced to one lane of traffic in each direction, a change that is going to be a permanent feature of the thoroughfare's restructuring, according to the master plan design.

There is plenty of dirt, dust, and construction noise to go along with these changes, too.

But downtown business owners are taking the process in stride.

"To get the job done, you've got to make some dirt," said Michael Robbins, co-owner of Hanifins Art & Antiques along downtown Carson Street. "I've been waiting 15 to 20 years for this to happen. I think it's going to be a terrific end-result."

Robbins said the construction is a temporary and minor inconvenience for what he sees to be a long-term benefit to Carson City.

"We're impacted for a few months," he said. "But the end result will be a huge boost to all of Carson City, because we're going to create a much more intimate, and much more pedestrian-friendly environment."

Robbins also said that, in spite of the construction going on in front of his store along Carson Street, the dirt and the noise aren't discouraging business.

"Our sales have actually been fairly good," he said.

Responding to some public concern that the project is a waste of money, Robbins said he feels the downtown reconstruction plan is based on what has worked before.

"This is a proven idea that has happened all over America," he said. "This is a plan that has been studied by city planners for years. It has proven to work. It pumps up the downtown with slower traffic and on-street parking. It's not an original idea."

But the downtown Carson Street corridor project isn't all about redesigning and restructuring the surface street, Carson City Public Works Engineering Manager Daniel Rotter said.

There were also pragmatic concerns about the age of underground utility pipes below Carson Street.

"A big chunk of the work being done is underground utility related," said Rotter, who is heading the downtown corridor project for the city. "We are replacing 60-70 year old water and sewer mains that are past their useful life."

Rotter said that the current water main pipes are made of a mix of steel and cast iron that has corroded over the years. Current sewer pipes are made of clay that "basically crumbles under any sort of settling or pressure," he said.

Both water mains and sewer pipes will be upgraded to standard PVC material, he said.

"The main leaks and sewer failures had created a great expense in maintenance and repair," Rotter said. "We're also replacing storm infrastructure to meet modern standards and replace worn out portions of the system."

Carson City Transportation Manager Patrick Pittenger told Carson Now in a January interview that the utility pipe replacement was necessary anyway, so the city felt it more cost effective to combine that work with the planned surface street restructuring into one project.

Still, not every downtown business owner is sold on the corridor project.

"I don't know if it's going to be good for business," said Rob Smith, owner of The Bike Smith on the west side of North Carson Street. "It's going to be nice to recreate downtown, and for commuting around town, it will be nice for bicycles. But I'm not sure it's going to improve business."

Robert Lamkin, owner of Bob's Shell Station on North Carson Street, said he has opposed the corridor project from the beginning because he believes the Carson City Board of Supervisors acted opposite of what the voters wanted.

"I was against it from the get go because I believe it's not what the voters wanted," he said. "I believe the people of Carson City are not going to be happy with this because it's going to take more traffic away from downtown than bring it to downtown."

Lamkin said the voters were not consulted by the Board of Supervisors on how the money for road construction should be spent.

He said he would have liked to have seen the city use the money instead to build a freeway interchange at highways 395 and 50 in South Carson City; or else perform much needed street work to other roads in town with greater needs, Lamkin said.

"It would have been very business like to ask the voters how to spend the money," he said. "The Board of Supervisors could have spent the money on a freeway interchange that they said we didn't have the money for."

Lamkin said an interchange would make traffic flow more efficiently at the major intersection of the new freeway bypass, because vehicles could merge onto the highways instead of waiting for their turn at a traffic light.

"But now traffic will have to stop at that intersection, and people turning left will have to wait a while," he said.

In spite of his opposition to the project, though, Lamkin said corridor construction has not had a significant effect on his business.

"Very slight impact," Lamkin said, adding that he is very thankful to his customers for continuing to stop in and do business even with the construction inconveniences going on.

"I want to thank my customers for making the effort to keep me in business and keep me from losing business," he said.

Lamkin also praised the construction contractor, Q&D Construction, for maintaining excellent communication with him. He said he's satisfied with the level of business access that crews have been affording his service station.

Smith, whose business is kitty-cornered across the street from Bob's Shell Station, said he hasn't experienced satisfactory communication, either with the city or with Q&D Construction.

"It was implied in the proposal that business access would remain open," he said, adding that the contractor has said it is working closely with local businesses. "But nobody's been by here yet."

Smith, who has owned The Bike Smith for 20 years in the same location on the west side of North Carson Street, said the construction in front of his store has clearly reduced foot traffic, and lack of traffic access is impacting his business.

"It's definitely bringing down business," he said. "It's not quite as smooth as they made it sound."

Smith noted that both Ann and Sophia Streets, which flank his business on either end along Carson Street, are both closed off to traffic. So is his business entrance from North Carson Street.

Lu Olsen, executive director of the Northern Nevada Children's Museum, concurs that pedestrian traffic is down with the construction focus in front of the museum.

"From what I can tell, we have had a little less foot traffic," she said. "We have seen less people coming in."

Olsen said summer is the museum's busiest time of year with a lot more preschool field trips and visits from the Boys and Girls Club.

Still, she acknowledged that the Children's Museum is a destination that people know about, so she has no real concerns about the on-street costruction.

She is also reserving judgment on both the merits of the project and the long-term impacts of construction as the museum's busy season approaches.

"I'm just waiting to see how it's all going to play out," she said. "I do know that when I was in a different city and they tried this there, it didn't work."

Smith said he is hopeful things will get better as construction is completed in front of his business and moves south along the corridor.

"Maybe they'll read this and do a better job of reaching out to business owners," he said.

Other downtown business owners, though, have said communication with the contractor and the city have been good.

"They have come in here four times with the planning commission people with notices telling me what they are going to do and when they are going to do it," Robbins said.

Mark Schmidt, co-owner of Carson Jewelry and Loan, said any concerns he has had with the construction get addressed either immediately or within 48 hours.

"We were promised minimal interruption with business access," he said. "So far they have upheld their promise."

For Schmidt, construction in front of his store has actually meant an increase in foot traffic as curious on-lookers have come down to check out the project for themselves, and end up congregating and talking about it in front of his business.

"People are shocked with how successful they've been in keeping the traffic moving through the downtown corridor with everything that is going on," he said.

Schmidt said he is supportive of the downtown corridor reconstruction project, and its vision of a more vibrant downtown Carson City.

"My biggest thing is that just a few years ago, we had a high volume of vehicles downtown, and most people weren't stopping unless they had a specific place to go," he said. "Creating an environment for people to go to rather than to go through is the biggest vision of this project."

Comma Coffee owner June Joplin agrees with Schmidt. She said the vision for the project has a lot of promise.

"Long term I think it's fabulous," she said. "I'm excited about that."

And while construction has its drawback in the short-term, Joplin said her business is prepared to ride it out.

"Of course it's going to impact business. Change has its growing pains," said Joplin, who has run Comma Coffee downtown for going on 16 years. "I'm looking forward to the possibilities that nobody's considered that will happen. Once you step through an opportunity, there's so much more that can happen."

Even though the construction process is messy, Joplin said, positive things have been happening.

"We've just had record days of sales, so it's not hurting us," she said. "So far I think it's awesome. They are doing a really good job, moving along quickly and efficiently."

One of the most impressive components of the construction process thus far, Joplin said, is the contractor's willingness to not be wasteful. She referred to the preservation of much of the median vegetation in front of her business that has been removed.

"That was a concern," she said. "We have all these beautiful flowering trees and plants. Let's not put them in the landfills, let's replant them."

That is precisely what has been done, said Rotter.

"We had planned to transplant the trees deemed viable by a certified arborist," he said. "What we hadn't planned on is the numerous requests from citizens to adopt the median plant material other than trees."

Neither the city nor Q&D Construction had any trouble finding new homes for the median flora, Rotter said.

"The response was overwhelming," he said. Over two days, "there were somewhere between 150-200 plants given out."

Most of the median trees were transplanted to Centennial Park in East Carson City, Rotter said, and at least one was replanted near Mills Park by the aquatic center.

"Nothing is being wasted," Robbins said. "The trees are recycled and the flowers are recycled."