Extending infrastructure to allow for development in north Iola will be a bit pricier than expected.
Iola City Council members will discuss bids on Monday for extending a street into what will be known as Cedarbrook Third Addition.
The Council received three bids for the project, the lowest of which came in at $1.308 million.
After greenlighting the extension last fall, projections for the road work had been pegged at between $950,000 and $1 million.
“It’s not exactly a shock” that the bids came in higher than projected, City Administrator Matt Rehder said Thursday. “The cost of business is going up.”
Council members voted in September to extend street, water and electric infrastructure on land that formerly occupied the northern portions of the old Cedarbrook Golf Course.
The impetus was a discussion with a housing developer looking to build a number of moderately priced homes targeted for workforce housing.
The developer was unsuccessful in his bid for a grant to fund construction, although other potential builders have expressed interest.
Rehder said he hoped to see the road work to begin sometime in late summer.
ALSO on Monday’s agenda is a discussion about a proposed outdoor dining policy that would allow establishments in Iola’s central business district to serve and sell food and beverages on public right-of-way, provided they leave a pedestrian path of at least 6 feet from the back of the curb.
The 6 p.m. meeting at the New Community Building at Riverside Park is open to the public.
