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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-04-2014 workshop ~ City Council of Peachtree City Workshop Meeting Minutes March 4, 2014 The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City met in workshop session on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Mayor Fleisch called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Other Council Members attending: Terry Ernst, Eric Imker, Mike King, and Kim Learnard. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the long-term maintenance, repair, and expansion of multi-use cart path system and streets and possible funding options. Community Services/Interim Public Services Director Jon Rorie gave Council an overview of the streets and cart paths, reviewed the multi-use path master plan, and discussed the priorities for concerning maintenance/repair/repave. The City had 178.95 miles of paved streets and 0.5 miles of unpaved roadway. Rorie said there were seven employees on the street crew, and their job was pavement management, patching, and pothole repair; curb repairs and replacements; and street ratings evaluation. Resurfacing and restriping was contracted. The streets and paths were rated using the PACER rating system, and all had been rated between 0 - 100. The higher the rating, the better the condition of the street. Rorie continued that roads with a grade of 80 should be repaired/rebuilt to prevent long-term problems. Thirty-three percent of the City's streets were currently rated at 80 and below, which was approximately 59 miles or 311,520 feet. The cost for resurfacing those streets was estimated at $6,487,000 for a two-inch overlay or $19,895,000 for full-depth reclamation {FOR}. ~ Current funding included $100,000 for street patching and sealing. The General Fund had $100,000 for milling and $493,000 for paving, both contracted services. The state's Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) funds were $274,000, and an $83,000 match from the City was required from the City to total $355,525. The General Fund included $693,601 for repaving Crosstown Drive, and there was $110,000 in the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for Crosstown or cart paths. Rorie went over the 2014 re-paving projects and reviewed the street rating spreadsheet. The Crosstown projects would cost $883,000. Rorie added that the Crosstown project had been put on hold until after the work on the Rockspray Pond dam and the renovation of the Braelinn Kroger were completed. There were also projects identified for the $417,000 for the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant {LMIG} funds the City would receive, as well as $160,000 in contingency funds. Rorie said the question was whether the City repaired or repaved streets and cart paths or added new paths to the system. He continued that paths were paths, not roads, going through the greenbelt. The condition of the paths was related to their location, as well as the usage. The paths were rated using the same system as for the streets, and 13% of the paths were rated below 80. Thirteen percent of 97.74 miles was approximately 12 miles or 63,369 feet, with an approximate materials cost of $918,720. Current funding for paths included $165,000 in restricted SPLOST funds and $365,000 from the General Fund. The cost to repave 25,000 feet per year was $750,000 in materials and labor at $30 per foot. It would take 2.5 years to repave the paths rated below 80, or $1,890,000 in labor and material, but noted that during that time, the other paths would continue to deteriorate. It would take 21 years to repave all the paths. City Council Workshop Minutes March 4, 2014 Page 2 - King and Ernst discussed the amount of paths that were repaved each year, noting that the seven-member crew would need to be doubled to get more paving done. Rorie pointed out that, for roads and paths, repaving while they were at 80 was critical to prevent long-term problems. King( said he would like to see all repaving of the cart paths on a five-year cycle. There was a discussion on whether the road crew could pave streets, noting there was an issue citizens had complained about at the entrance to Parkway Estates off Peachtree Parkway North. Public Works Supervisor Scott Hicks said the paving job had been too big for the people and equipment the City had in place. The discussion moved to the Multi-use Path System Master Plan, which Rorie said had been updated in October 2010. The plan identified 24.7 miles of new paths, 59 new path projects, five new multi-use bridges/tunnels, and 10 new tunnels to replace corrugated metal tunnels at an estimated cost of $15,524.782 in 2010. Paths were prioritized using an evaluation matrix that included connectivity, design and construction, safety, and funding. The current expansion proposals included Cedarcroft/MacDuff Parkway (new); Crosstown grade crossing (ranked 50th in 2010) Huddleston Road (ranked 22nd), and Carriage Lane/SR 54 East {ranked 28th}. Rorie discussed options being considered for Cedarcroft/MacDuff Parkway, the Crosstown grade crossing, Huddleston Road, and Carriage Lane/SR 54 East. .~ Option 1 for Cedarcroft/MacDuff Parkway was to follow the existing path through the greenbelt to Gittings A venue. The total cost estimate was $27,412, which included removing the existing berm, plants, and trees; importing soils; appraisals; path; engineering/permitting; general conditions; contingency; bonds; and overhead. Option 2 would use the right-of-way along MacDuff Parkway toward the subdivision entrance, with an estimated cost of $67,040. The cost also included removing the existing berm and plants {$21 ,461 }, importing soils, the path, engineering/permitting; general conditions; contingency; bonds; and overhead. Option 3 would be to go through the wetlands towards the creek adjacent to Lot 161 at a total estimated cost of $22,445. The cost included the path, wetlands evaluation, a variance to the state waters buffers, engineering/permitting; general conditions; contingency; bonds; and overhead. City Engineer Dave Borkowski noted there was no guarantee the City would get a wetlands variance from the state for Option 3. King asked if a bridge could be built across the wetlands. Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore said the City would need a wetlands variance for the bridge too. Borkowski pointed out the City would need to purchase less than 10 square feet of easement for Option 1. Rorie said the cost estimate to put a cart path along Huddleston Road was $159,319, with the total construction cost estimated to be $108,750 for 2,875 linear feet of path. King asked if bike lanes could be placed on Huddleston Road like they were on Dividend Road. Rorie said he believed the City should use the roads as part of the path system where it could be done. ,~ There were also three options for crossing from the south side to the north side of Crosstown Drive, and there were multiple issues with each option, according to Rorie. Option 1 for an at- grade crossing included a rock wall, a pedestrian signal, importing soils, fence, concrete barriers along the shoulder, concrete barrier footings, guardrail, and easement appraisals for a construction cost of $257,118. When engineering/permitting, general conditions, contingency, bonds, and overhead were added in, the total estimated cost was $376,677. City Council Workshop Minutes March 4, 2014 Page 3 - Option 2 would go along the south side of Crosstown from Braelinn Village Shopping Center. Flat Creek Nature Area was adjacent to the Crosstown right-of-way. The total construction cost was $676,330 for 965 linear feet of timber bridge, 260 linear feet of asphalt path, and an appraisal. The total estimated cost including engineering/permitting, general conditions, contingency, bonds, and overhead was $992,007. Option 3 was the Crosstown Drive tunnel with a total construction cost of $353,286 for the tunnel, tunnel lighting, fill dirt. excavation, and spoil soil removal. The total estimated cost was $517,564, including engineering/permitting, general conditions, contingency, bonds, and overhead. Concerns for all the options included the speed of cars coming onto Crosstown from the dedicated right-turn lane from SR 74 and the speed of cars on Crosstown. There were additional concerns about golf carts crossing SR 74 at the Crosstown intersection; however, it would be advantageous if carts could crossSR 74 at the intersection. Ernst reminded Council that police officers had controlled traffic at the intersection so carts could cross the highway when it had been convenient for the City, such as during the Great Georgia Airshow. Borkowski said the pedestrian facilities at the intersection were a federal requirement. but that did not mean crossing SR 74 at Crosstown was safe. The speed limits on TDK Boulevard (40 miles per hour) and Crosstown (35 miles per hours) did not match either. He continued that staff had not recommended a cart crossing at the intersection because of the continuous right turn lanes. Mary Giles asked what the goal was on Crosstown Drive, and King also asked if a cart crossing was worth it. Fleisch said citizens had asked for the crossing. Imker said residents with out-of- town guests at the Best Western did not have access to the hotel. He pointed out the City controlled the speed limit on Crosstown. King suggested rumble strips on the approaches to the crossing could help with the speed. Rorie continued that the total estimated cost for the Carriage Lane/SR 54 East path was $103,294, if the path was built in the sewer easement. The construction cost was estimated at $86,890 for 1,614 linear feet of path, two appraisals, easements, and fill dirt. Imker said the cost value for this project was high. Carriage Lane would have access to the path system, and it would open up all of Robinson Road for cart access to the shopping center and Mcintosh High School. Planning & Zoning Administrator David Rast pointed out that was assuming the path could be put in the sewer right-of-way. All of the land in front of the cemetery up to the state right-of-way was designated for cemetery plots. Rorie said he would like to come up with a five- or 10-year cycle so that every 20 years, all of the paths would have been repaved, which was where the City needed to be. Imker said nothing could be done until the budget review. Salvatore said the budget directions would be given to directors and chiefs on Friday, March 7. The budget calendar had been approved by the City Manager, and the first workshop with Council was scheduled on June 16. .~ Pennington said they would be looking at two items, cart paths and streets. There were the competing elements of maintaining the paths versus adding to the system. Priorities needed to be set as there would be a limited amount of money. City Council Workshop Minutes March 4, 2014 Page 4 ~ Rorie said projects needed to be identified so the paving could be put out for bid. Fleisch suggested exploring the easements needed for Cedarcroft. She suggested approaching Keep Peachtree City Beautiful (KPTCB) to help with maintenance on the path system. Fleisch asked AI Yougel, KPTCB executive director, to go over the proposed responsibilities. Yougel said KPTCB would perform a minimum of 32 man hours per week servIcing trash containers on the path system, including inspection and service of the heaviest used cans as needed at the beginning and end of each week, inspection and service as needed of the remaining cans, and recommending placement of additional cans. A minimum of 48 man hours per week would be spent iinspecting the cart path system, including monitoring and servicing (litter and yard waste removal) weekly on class "A" path segments, monitoring and servicing as needed on class "B" and "C" path segments, and responding to special service/clean up requests on the path system. In addition, KPTCB would purchase and maintain the required insurance/liability coverage for all vehicles and tools required to complete the obligations, purchase fuel for operating vehicles and tools necessary to complete the obligations, and provide miscellaneous supplies, such as bags and grabbers. Yougel said it would give KPTCB the opportunity to perform the beautification part of the Keep America Beautiful program. It would also relieve Public Works of some of its duties on the paths. Fleisch said the cost for the proposed program would be $27,000 for remainder of FY 2014 and $45,000 for FY 2015. King said he had no problem with the proposal, adding that the Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) might contribute since it had a vested interest in how the City looked. Imker suggested the budget amendments be done so the City could move forward with the proposal. Direction was given to add the KPTCB agreement regarding the paths to the March 20 agenda. Imker referred to a list he had provided in 2013 on how to generate $1.5 million, saying he wanted to pay for the streets and paths out of the General Fund. He said it might be possible to add another $1 .5 million into the budget. There were still some revenue concerns, but he hoped to get an update in April on that. He would like to have his list put back into an agenda packet. 12 ~ ~~~ Vanessa Fleisch, Mayor . . There being no further business to discuss, the meetin