S 5th St & Johnson Ave Improvement Project

S 5th St & Johnson Ave Improvement Project

(LID 2025-1)

Background

The Driggs City Council, by adoption of Resolution 429-25 on June 25, 2025, has initiated the process for organizing a Local Improvement District that would provide a minor part of the funding (less than 35%) to improve South 5th Street and Johnson Ave as paved residential collector roads.

A Local Improvement District (LID) is a tool provided for in Idaho Statute Title 50, Chapter 17 , allowing cities to levy assessments for a portion of the cost of improvements like streets on the properties that will benefit from those improvements, and to borrow against that revenue, allowing payment of assessments over a 15-20 year period. The major portion of funding allocated to this project includes local-option sales tax, impact fees and grants.

Preliminary Design

A Project Open House was held at City Hall on Monday, November 3, 2025, from 5pm to 7pm. The Project Engineer, Keller Associates, presented the project’s preliminary design, including options for traffic calming and the local improvement district assessment method (see links below). Please submit any comments to DSelf@DriggsIdaho.org by November 11th if possible to help inform the next (75%) design phase.

• Design Graphics for Nov. 3rd Open House , including Project Extent, Street Cross-sections, and Traffic Calming Options
• Preliminary Local Improvement District Boundary & Assessment Method
• Preliminary Design Drawings Note that this is a first draft from the Project Engineer. Staff has requested a number of revisions, including changes to the alignment of road, sidewalk and pathway. A summary of the Project Team's Preliminary Design Review meeting notes will be posted here in early November.
• Preliminary Cost Estimate: including 20% contingency = $3,500,000. The goal will be to get this down around or below $3M. Cost saving measures such as re-using much of the existing road's gravel material are being pursued, which will bring the cost down significantly.

LID Ordinance Hearing

Following the November 3rd Open House, Keller Associates will revise the design and cost estimate to address comments, and the City Council will consider an ordinance at a noticed public hearing (tentatively January 20th) to create the Local Improvement District, with notice mailed to property owners within the proposed district at least 2 weeks prior, including descriptions of:

o   The boundary of the proposed district;

o   The proposed improvements;

o   The cost estimate and percentage proposed to be paid by LID property owners;

o   A statement of the proposed method for calculating the assessment for each property (by front-foot or square-foot method or a combination thereof).

75% Design

After the LID ordinance public hearing, if the City Council adopts an ordinance creating Local Improvement District 2025-2, Keller Associates will develop the 75% design for public review and comment before finalizing the design and cost estimate and advertising for construction bids in February or March.

LID Assessment Roll Hearing

After project construction, the City must mail property owners in the district a notice for a public hearing on the proposed assessment roll, at which property owners may file any objections to the correctness of their assessment, including the inclusion of a property in the district, the benefits calculated, and the proportionate share of project cost to be assessed.

Please contact Doug Self with any questions or concerns by either phone (208-354-2362, ext. 2111) or email (DSelf@DriggsIdaho.org ) regarding the project or the proposed local improvement district.