Sonora Council Takes On Widening, Height and Art
Sonora, CA — Those were all issues the Sonora City Council considered at its meeting. The Council has given the green light to request bids from contractors for the Mono Way Widening.
City Administrator Tim Miller says, “The bids will be due October 28th. After both the city and county project teams, since it’s jointly funded by the two, review the bids and take them back to the Council. I expect that they’ll make an award late November or early December.” The estimated the cost for the project is around $2.75 million.
Also, the city is asking artists in the area to bring their drawings to the table. There is a 600 foot stretch of wall that is part of the widening plans and the council approved the staff to solicit proposals for murals or other types of art to go up on the space. One group that has shown some interest is the Tuolumne County Arts Alliance. Miller says they want to leave it as flexible as they can in an attempt to not limit the artist ideas. He says he hopes to give the artists about 90 to 100 days to submit their proposals. The main construction on the roadway will begin in the spring of 2014.
One other decision the council made was to turn down AT&T’s request to extending a dish receiver on William Street to rise up 12 additional ft. The Planning Commission approved AT&T’s request last month, but the Tuolumne Heritage Committee appealed that decision to the board. The company can still ask for the tower extension. Some council members challenged AT&T to come up with other options to camouflage the tower.
