NEW ULM — The New Ulm City Council was presented with the 2025 capital improvement plan (CIP) on Tuesday. The CIP proposes using $8.24 million in dedicated funding and another $6.5 million in bonding to cover $14.56 million in capital improvements over the next year.

The projects and costs were laid in City Engineer Joe Stadheim’s capital improvement plan (CIP) report during Tuesday’s New Ulm City Council meeting.

The CIP included a list of project recommendations for 2025 that were deemed necessary, feasible, cost-effective, and aligned with the City’s Complete Streets Policy, Active Transportation Action Plan, and ADA Transition Plan.

The 2025 capital improvement project was broken down into six categories: utility, street and alley improvement projects; surface reconstruction projects, storm sewer improvement projects, railroad crossing safety improvements, airport improvements and tree planting projects.

The utility, street, and alley improvements were the highest cost at $6 million. The largest of the road improvement projects for 2025 is Bridge Street from Cottonwood to Tower Road. The roadway is located near the Kraft plant. Stadheim said this roadway and the utilities are in very bad shape. The project would include a full road and utility reconstruction and is estimated at $3.6 million.

The Lakeside Village Addition Road project is the second-largest street improvement project scheduled for 2025. The Lakeside Village subdivision was created in 2005. Underground utilities were previously constructed but the roads have yet to be paved. The project would include grading, curb and gutter, sidewalks, and street lighting. The project is estimated at $2.17 million.

Councilor Eric Warmka asked how assessments would work in the Lakeside Village.

Stadheim said the subdivision had a development agreement that 100% of the cost is assessed equally to the residential parcels. This applied to original platted parcels. A house built over two lots would be accessed twice.

The CIP also called for $445,100 in surface reconstruction projects. Roadways to be resurfaced included 23rd N. Street from N. Broadway to Terrace Drive ($106,500); 11th S. Street from Payne Street to Jefferson Street ($45,000); 5th N. Street from Broadway to German Street ($127,100); 15th South Street from State Street to Washington Street ($43,000) and Summit Avenue from State Park Road to Gold Drive ($123,500).

Stadheim’s report included a history of city road improvements. In 2008, the city had nearly 30 miles of failed roadway segments. In the 17 years since, the city has reconstructed 43.5 miles of failed roadway, fixing an average of 2.6 miles per year. New Ulm currently has 6.5 miles of failed roadway segments remaining.

“I think that is something the city can really be proud of. We took big strides in our reconstruction program,” Stadheim said.

After roads, improvements to New Ulm Airport were the next highest cost with $5.1 million in planned improvement for 2025. This includes crosswind runway construction; airport fuel system construction; apron expansion and taxi lane extension. Stadheim said the $5.1 million was offset with $4.5 million of dedicated funding from state and federal sources.

New Ulm is also expected to receive $1.125 million in FEMA funding for the construction of a new storm sewer lift station on the 18th S. Street pumping location. The total cost of the lift station is estimated at $2.53 million.

The railroad crossing at 20th South Street will receive a new light and gate crossing signal. The project costs $400,000 but is partially funded by $360,000 in State Railroad Crossing Safety funds.

Councilor David Christian made a motion to receive the 2025 CIP report for further review with a second from Warmka.

Accepting the report does not obligate to city to construct the listed improvement. All projects are subject to a public hearing, ordering of improvements and awarding contracts before any project work begins.