By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A $219,750 grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service emergency watershed protection program will pay most of the cost to repair a May creek bank cave-in on the west side of Elm St.

Heavy rains in late May caused the east side of Luta Creek to collapse. At least 30 trees and several feet of riverbank, right up to the curb, fell into the creek.

City administrator Roger Holter said preliminary estimates indicate the repairs will cost $293,000. The city’s matching portion is $73,250, which can be in the form of materials, transportation of materials and use of city equipment needed for the repairs.

Holter said an access road from an area behind the police station is planned so equipment and supplies will be accessible. Workers will build up the east side of the bank using large rocks at the base and progressively smaller rocks up to the curb.

“If we simply dump material from the top it will just continue to slip away,” Holter said.

Holter said the city plans to begin work as soon as engineering work is completed, since the grant is only available 220 days after it is awarded.