Kent City Council approved the specifications between Kent State University and the city in regards to the completed relocation of the city’s 24-inch-diameter water line located underneath the university’s campus. 

Wednesday night, an emergency clause was approved surrounding the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which laid out the agreement specifications between the university and city in regards to the water line easement. 

With this agreement and what the easement stands for, the university will now not be able to build upon the water line, such as constructing a new building. This signifies 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. 

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 completed after it was a part of the construction expansion of the College of Aeronautics and Engineering building on Summit Street.

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.

Construction of the building began last spring, but the 24-inch diameter of 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.

Anthony Zacharyasz is co-general assignment editor. Contact him at [email protected].