Ottawa receives $3.4 million for Green Street project

Ottawa Mayor Dan Aussem announced at the end of the city council meeting Tuesday that the city has received a $3.4 million grant to elevate Green Street above the flood plain.

Aussem said it’s a project the city has been applying for a grant for for quite some time and notice of the approval came in at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“We already have the money set aside for our 20% of what we have to cover,” Aussem said. “The design work is all done and we have the money set aside so I assume we just have to get everything finalized, put it out for bid and we can start next construction season.”

Aussem said the construction should start next summer to avoid traffic from the high school.

The city council also placed amendments to the city’s noise ordinance on file during the meeting, which places a specific decibel on the current ordinance without changing much else.

A draft of the ordinance is available for citizens to read at cityofottawa.org.

Aussem said the council could have just passed the ordinance but because public interest in adjusting the noise ordinances has been so high, he thought it would be best to post it publicly so citizens have the chance to go over it.

The ordinance will be up for approval at the next city council meeting on Sept. 21.