UP City Council Awards Contract for Snider Plaza Improvements

The University Park City Council on March 19 awarded a $15.66 million construction contract for phase I of surface improvements in Snider Plaza to SYB Construction Co., a company which has done other major work for the city.

Snider Plaza surface improvements will address aging infrastructure, and will include landscaping, pavement and sidewalk upgrades, parking enhancements, and stormwater work. The city has already completed underground work on water and sanitary sewer lines. Click HERE to visit the city’s webpage on the Snider Plaza improvements.

Phase I upgrades will target Snider Plaza between Rankin Avenue and Daniel Avenue, Daniel Avenue between the east and west alleys of Snider Plaza, Milton Avenue between Hillcrest Avenue and Snider Plaza, and Rosedale Avenue between Snider Plaza and the east alley, director of engineering Katie Barron told the council.

The work will also include repaving a section of Westminster Avenue east of Snider Plaza, stormwater improvements, and the conversion of the lot at 3420 Rankin Avenue, which will be used for project staging, into a parking lot.

Barron told the council the city will hold neighborhood meetings on the improvements in April. Phase I work is expected to take 18 to 20 months, and to be completed by September 2025.

Mayor Pro Tem Liz Farley said she was pleased SYB, which did quality work for the city on a major drainage project, was the Snider Plaza project’s top bidder. 

Barron agreed SYB has worked well in University Park. “They know us very well. We know them very well,” she said. “They know how to operate in the city. We’ve had very few resident complaints.”

In other business at the March 19 meeting, the city council:

• Approved a request from the Chris Murzin Foundation to use the pickleball courts at Williams Park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, for a philanthropic pickleball tournament. The event will be open to the public, and could include a DJ, food trucks, and other activities. The Chris Murzin Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to investigating unsolved homicides.
• Heard from resident Alyson Booth on the need to educate ebike users, who may be too young to have taken driver education courses, on traffic rules.