Merced applies to redo community rose garden, save water

Merced will apply for a grant to make its community rose garden more water-efficient after a vote this week.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to apply for $20,000 from the state Department of Water Resources to cover the materials and labor to replace about 10,700 square feet of turf that surrounds the Laura Fountain in Applegate Park.

Mayor Stan Thurston and Councilman Noah Lor were absent from the meeting, according to records.

The Department of Water Resources has $3 million from 2014’s Proposition 1 to dole out to water-saving projects. Merced falls under the department’s “underserved counties,” according to records.

The garden is flood-irrigated, a system considered antiquated in the state’s time of drought. The project would add drip irrigation to the garden.

The turf would be replaced with granite. At least 150 rose bushes would be replaced with fresh rose bushes, according to the plans.

If approved by the department, the project would take about a week to complete. City staff estimates the changes to the garden would save more than 300,000 gallons of water a year.

During the same meeting, the council approved plans to put $33,662 of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant money toward Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramps in South Merced.

The ramps will go at the end of sidewalks at the intersections of T and Sixth streets; T and Seventh streets; S and Fourth streets; S and Sixth Streets; and S and Seventh streets.

Grant money from HUD must be used to meet an approved national objective. That means the activities must directly benefit low- and moderate-income people, aid in prevention and elimination of slums or blight, or meet an urgent need, such as flood, hurricane or tornado cleanup and repair.

Yet another approval during this week’s meeting was for street closures Sunday for the 29th annual Original Merced Criterium. The bicycle-race route will close streets from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day. The closed streets will include West Main Street, West 18th Street, West 19th Street, West 20th Street and West 21st Street, all between M and N streets, including Courthouse Loop. Also closed are the east side of N Street from the alley between West 16th and West Main streets to West 21st Street. M Street will be closed from West Main to West 21st Street.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Merced applies to redo community rose garden, save water."