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Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said work began recently on a sanitary sewer project that is expected to impact parking at the Bartlesville Community Center. Additionally, a major storm water drainage project is set to begin in the area later this month. Work on the sanitary sewer installation project will begin on Silas Street and will progress south to Adams Boulevard.

Lauritsen said traffic cones will be placed on the parking stalls impacted to prevent parking in those stalls. He said the work is underway in the grass area and that parking may not be impacted for a week or more. As they progress through the parking lot, they will put gravel down and open up access to Dewey Avenue and the parking stalls.

Storm drain work in the area is set to begin during the last week of March or first part of April. Lauritsen said this project could have a larger impact on traffic in the area. They will close off approximately 50 feet of the Community Center parking lots center during that time. The storm water drainage improvements will start on Fifth Street and the alley and will progress south to Adams Boulevard.

Lauritsen said it will take us at least four weeks to move through the parking lot. Like the waste-water project, they will backfill with gravel and open up parking as they progress to the south. Once both the sanitary sewer lines and storm drains are installed, crews will come back for the pavement repairs in the parking lot.

Lauritsen said the pavement repairs will take approximately two to three weeks to complete. He anticipates the pavement repairs will start mid-June. Both projects will facilitate the Tower Center at Unity Square project, a voter-approved community gathering space that will be constructed between the BCC and Price Tower.