Several possibilities for repairing streets in the Martinwood subdivision were batted around by the Senoia City Council Monday night.

In the end, city leaders decided to wait and get a second opinion from a county roads official this week before proceeding.

City Administrator Richard Ferry gave council three options and ballpark estimates for each. The cheapest, which involves putting a new surface over the existing pavement using city equipment would cost about $100,000. The most expensive, at about $500,000 would be to tear out the existing pavement, redo the base and then repave the road.

In-between is patching all the bad spots and using a special tar-based asphalt to help alleviate water problems, at a cost of about $300,000. Complicating the issue is the presence of springs in the area which basically can’t be controlled but add to the damage of the streets, Ferry said.

The question became what gets the most bang for the buck, as the cheapest solution was also determined to have the shortest potential life span.

Mayor Robert Belisle said he thinks the cheaper option could last up to seven or eight years. He also added that a city sewer project was what “destroyed the roads out there.”

But the water issue also played a factor in the discussion, as Councilman Larry Owens noted it could still cause problems down the road even if the street is torn up and repaved.

Owens said he felt the cheapest option, the top coating, would likely have the cit coming back to spend another $100,000 to $200,000 down the road for additional repairs anyway.

“But I understand $500,000 is a lot of money,” Owens said.

Belisle noted that the roads serve a subdivision and do not have any heavy industrial-type traffic.

“I just can’t justify a half-million dollars, the total year’s SPLOST collection, for the city to fix it,” Belisle said.

The mayor suggested using city crews and equipment for much of the work to give the road a potential minimum serviceable lifespan of at least six years.

“Realistically you’d look at 10 to 15 years before the road gets back to where it is now,” Belisle said.

login to post comments