NEWPORT — The Monmouth Street redevelopment project was one of the major issues discussed during a weekend City Commission retreat in Lexington and appears on schedule for an April start.

        But at least one Monmouth Street property owner is unhappy with what he's heard and could oppose the project.

        Commissioner Jerry Peluso said Monday the street-scape project is still on schedule to start this spring and be completed probably in the fall of 2002.

        “It looks like assessments to property owners will start in 2004,” he said. “They will pay about 33-34 percent of the overall cost, and it will be spread out over 10 years.”

        Original estimates called for property owners to pick up about 65 percent of the $2.2 million project over five years.

        The project includes all new curbs and paver-brick sidewalks, removal of all utility poles and overhead wires, and running all electric service into buildings underground or from the rear from Fifth to 11th streets. There also are plans for landscaping and new trees.

        Mr. Peluso said he still had some concerns about how much business owners will be asked to pay, and used as an example Roger and Mina Peterson, who own several businesses in the 600 block of Monmouth.

        “I estimate that they'll pay roughly $10,900 a year for 10 years for their share of the streetscape,” Mr. Peluso said. “That's over $100,000.”

        Mr. Peterson said he wasn't surprised at Mr. Peluso's estimate.

        “That's about what I figured it would cost us,” he said. “I don't see how the city can charge us to put a private power company's lines underground into our buildings.”

        Mr. Peterson said he can't see the value of new sidewalks and curbs and underground electric that cost property owners more, when many buildings along Monmouth Street are vacant with no tenants in sight.

        “I have a building at the corner of Sixth and Monmouth which has had a number of tenants (mostly restaurants) in the past few years,” he said. “I lowered the rent $200 a month to try to keep a tenant, and now the city wants me to pay $100,000 for new sidewalks, which means I have to raise the rent. What good does it do?”

        City Manager Phil Ciafardini said the weekend retreat, which ran from Friday afternoon through noon Sunday, was very productive.

        “We discussed a wide variety of subjects, and only got to about half of the things we

        wanted to look at. I'm trying to summarize what we did and the directions we want to take,” he said.

        He said plans call for a public hearing on the Monmouth Street project for Feb. 22 — “If we can get all the appropriate materials together for a presentation at that time.”

        Mr. Ciafardini said other items discussed during over 20 hours of meetings included:

        • The city's recreation needs and the recreation master plan.

        • Negotiations with Newport Aquarium/Newport on the Levee owners for use of the riverfront property formerly home to Barleycorn's floating restaurant. “We want to expand recreation along the riverfront. We will probably want everything west of the L&N bridge to be recreational in nature, rather than commercial such as restaurants,” he said.

        • A five-year street program that includes all new water lines, curbs and sidewalks on Central Avenue at a cost of about $1 million.

        • A home fleet program for the police department.

        “We're planning something for just about every part of the city,” Mr. Peluso said. “In five to seven years Newport will be a completely different city.”

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