Two Carson Street medians may be landscaped by Thanksgiving

Carson City officials are about $17,000 short of being able to landscape two medians on North Carson Street.

Supervisor Kay Bennett has worked on the project for almost all of her 12 years on the Board of Supervisors. The landscaped medians between Hot Springs Road and College Parkway were a product of Bennett's work since 1991. Getting funds to finish the last two medians between College Parkway and Broadleaf Lane has taken four years.

"I'm interested in the appearance of our city, and I think the entrances are very important," Bennett said. "They make our first impression."

Bennett has raised almost $45,000 of the $62,000 needed to finish the two medians. Much of the money has been donated by business fronting Highway 395 near the medians. Carson City supervisors recently approved $10,000 of Quality of Life money to be used for the project and have previously committed about $16,000 to the project.

Carson City Park Planner Vern Krahn said city officials working on the project have decided to go ahead with the project, hoping to garner the extra funds to finish the project before Thanksgiving. Krahn said a huge expense in the project is breaking up asphalt under the soil from an old highway.

"Right now we think we have enough money to demolish and remove the asphalt in both islands, put good dirt and irrigation in both and landscape one island," he said. "If Kay can wrangle the other $17,000 it will give us enough money to put the landscaping in the second island. We might not get it done by Thanksgiving, but we want it done by the end of the year before she leaves office. So come heck or high water we're going to give it the old college try."

Bennett calls the project her "swan song." She decided in 1999 not to run for a fourth term.

"It's the last of the projects I personally had a hand in and have worked on," she said. "Interestingly enough, it's one of the first projects I started, and I would like to see this completed before I leave office. I encourage the supervisors who come after me to continue the effort to beautify the city."

Krahn said the islands will be landscaped similar to those on Graves Lane with berms covered in small rocks, low growing shrubs and tall trees. He said the landscaping was designed to be as maintenance-free as possible. Carson City will maintain the medians, which because of the placement on Highway 395, are usually maintained by the state.

For information on the Carson Street median landscaping project, call Kay Bennett at 883-9369 or 887-2100.