The Douglas County Commission will be asked Wednesday to approve two utility relocation agreements for this year’s planned improvements to West County Road 458.

On the County Commission’s agenda, along with Douglas County Public Works Director Keith Browning’s update on costs for this year’s improvements to CR 458, will be an unrelated conditional use permit for commissioners to consider. With that, the meeting will be scheduled for the 6 p.m. time slot that is reserved for items that might draw public comment.

In a memo to commissioners, Browning wrote that the CR 458 project slated for a 5-mile section of CR 458 from East 800 Road north of Lone Star to near its junction with North 1150 Road will cost an estimated $7.26 million. That is an increase from the estimated $5.9 million cost when the project was first put on the county’s capital improvement plan in 2011. Federal funding has already been secured to cover $2.47 million of those costs, and another $540,000 in federal money is anticipated.

Last week, Browning told commissioners the project would start in late May and construction would continue through November. At that time, the project probably would wrap up for the season and be completed in spring of 2018, he said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Browning will ask commissioners to authorize payment to Douglas County Rural Water District No. 5 of $202,320 to relocate waterlines to accommodate wider ditches and the realigned curves and another $142,468 for AT&T to move its copper and fiber optic lines. The project was redesigned to reduce utility relocation costs. Browning’s memo also provides an estimate of $185,000 to purchase right of way for the project.

The proposed conditional use permit before commissioners would allow for the expanded use of a private airstrip about 2 miles south of Eudora at 1123 East 2000 Road. The airstrip has been in use since the first permit was approved in 1985 for the use of property owners Milton and Joan Bland “and occasional friends.”

The revised conditional use permit would allow property owners who plan to build homes on a proposed development on a subdivided Bland property to use the airstrip for a plane and powered parachute. The conditional use permit comes with the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission’s recommendation for approval.

The Douglas County Commission meets Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. A complete agenda can be viewed at douglascountyks.org.