Manhattan city officials are considering adding consolidated trash compactors in Aggieville as part of ongoing redevelopment in that district.
Members of Olsson engineering presented two initial concepts at Tuesday’s city commission meeting with plans for compactors to be located next to the alley between Moro and Laramie Street and in the north part of the district, behind Starbucks.
Design concepts (see at bottom of page) are aimed to make alleys safer, more pedestrian-friendly and aesthetically appealing through lighting, simplified surfaces, and potentially utilizing art and murals.
Commissioners generally favored the idea to eliminate some of the challenges with large trucks navigating through some of Aggieville’s tight alleys less frequently.
“I like the concept. It will save some wear and tear on alleys and you mentioned the only drawback is how does the business get the trash to the compactor. It’s nice that the compactor doesn’t leak, but it doesn’t do us a lot of good if the trash bags leak on the way there,” said Mayor Wynn Butler.
Others on the commission were hesitant to make any decisions before hearing from business owners.
“I think we should be moving forward, but I’d like their input before I offer an opinion on this,” said Commissioner Susan Adamchak.
“I think it’s a good concept, but we’ll obviously want to get feedback from business owners,” said Commissioner Peter Oppelt.
Commissioner Karen McCulloh says she’d like to see the alleys prioritized.
“I think the alleys are vitally important and should be done first. They’re just really unpleasant now and I know a lot of people cut through them and take shortcuts here and there and I think it would be great if we could have more lighting there, we could have them be easier to walk in. There’s a lot of chipped concrete,” she said.
Aggieville Business Association Director Dennis Cook spoke favorably of the ideas, noting the four alleys have just shy of 90 dumpsters.
“This concept of the trash compactors is something we’ve been talking about for four years, so we are anxious for that to happen. There are some ideas about how to do a better job with that with grease too and we’re going to work with the city on that also,” he said.
Concepts also show curb improvements proposed along 12th Street and Laramie, which would include more pedestrian-friendly designs, better locations for drop-off for ride shares, festoon lighting, vendor space, bike racks and removable bollards.
No action was taken Tuesday, and the topic will be discussed at future commission meetings.
1. 2024_0311 Aggieville12th Street Concepts