Water line easement specifications between KSU, city of Kent approved

Kent State University and the city of Kent agreed upon the specifications for the completed relocation of the city’s 24 inch, in diameter, water line located underneath the university’s campus Wednesday night. 

With this easement agreement, the university will now not be able to construct on or within close parameters of the water line. This means the line is on the university’s property, but can be used by the city, said Mike Wasowski, the university’s assistant director of architecture and engineering. 

Upon the MOU specifications, the cost of the water line project was approximately $120,000, and both sides will be charged for half, Wasowski said.

According to the MOU, “The City will reimburse KSU 50% of the construction cost, up to $60,000 to relocate the waterline.”

The university will be reimbursed by the city within sixty days of an invoice for the water line construction with the appropriate fields listed in the MOU, it stated.

Council used an emergency clause to waive a vote on the ordinance in upcoming meetings, as this one vote secured the approval for the language within the MOU. 

The relocation of the water line was a part of the construction expansion of the College of Aeronautics and Engineering building on Summit Street.

Construction of the building began last spring, but the water line project was completed within three weeks during the construction’s entirety, Wasowski said.

Crews relocated approximately 200 feet in length, said Jim Bowling, deputy service director and superintendent of engineering. 

During those three weeks, the construction teams endured obstacles of other underground utilities geared toward campus infrastructure, such as electricity and abandoned cable lines, Wasowski said. 

“There’s a lot of ‘spaghetti’ (an abundance of additional cables and lines) underground where trying to fit a pipe can go through,” Wasowski said. “24 inch diameter is a really large pipe to kind of work around with other things within that area.”

Connected to the city’s water plant, the water line serves as a “main” line of drinking water to the university, Bowling said.