DATE: October 23, 2018
TO: Board of Mayor and Aldermen
FROM: Eric Stuckey, City Administrator
Paul Holzen, City Engineer/Director of Engineering
Jonathan Marston, Assistant Director of Engineering
SUBJECT:
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*Consideration of Resolution 2018-95, “A Resolution Providing Direction Regarding the Final Design of the Franklin Road Corridor Improvements Project”.
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Purpose
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information to the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) concerning recent neighborhood input on the Franklin Road Corridor Improvements Project.
Discussion
On June 19, 2007, the BOMA approved Amendment #6 to EG&G’s Franklin Corridor & Connector Streets Economic Development Project - Segment One professional services agreement (PSA) for the preliminary design of Franklin Road, from the Harpeth River Bridge to Harpeth Industrial Court (Approx. 3,200 L.F.), in the amount of $195,250. On September 9, 2008, the BOMA approved Amendment #9 to EG&G’s Segment One PSA for the final design of Franklin Road in the amount of $420,000. The final construction plans and specifications were never completed due to the economic downturn of 2008 and were shelved until recently.
On March 13, 2014, BOMA approved Resolution 2014-13, A Resolution to Adopt the Funding Plan for the FY 2014-2018 CIP (Capital Investment Plan). Included in this resolution was funding approval for the final design of Franklin Road, Harpeth Bridge to Harpeth Industrial Court, totaling $150,000. The Franklin Road Project Priority Ranking moved up to #3. On October 25, 2016, BOMA approved Resolution 2016-69, adopting the project list for Phase I of the FY 2017-2026 Capital Investment Program. Franklin Road was included on the list of approved projects. Since that time, the project team has been working to finalize the construction plans.
On March 20, 2018, City staff held a formal public meeting to initiate the right-of-way acquisition process for this project. Engineering staff recently began formal easement negotiations with the affected Franklin Road Project property owners. The appearance of survey stakes in front yards caused some concern to several area residents. Those residents contacted Engineering and requested a neighborhood meeting. That meeting was held in the Training Room at City Hall on September 6TH. The residents’ main concern was the amount of impact to their properties by the Franklin Road project. More specifically, the residents were concerned about loss of trees and any subsequent loss of character to the area. Some of their requests include: elimination of two-way left turn lane, narrowing of lanes, possible elimination of underground electric (if it can reduce property impacts), and the possible elimination of sidewalk on one (1) side of Franklin Road. Because of the concerns voiced in that neighborhood meeting, staff put the acquisition of property for the Franklin Road project on hold to allow further investigation of the residents’ concerns. The City’s project manager, along with the City Arborist, walked the project limits to assess the health of the existing trees. Staff also prepared the attached exhibit showing the potential impacts to trees by the proposed project. This exhibit is attached for reference. Staff estimates that any major redesign would result in approximately 12 months of delay.
Below is the staff recommendation to the Franklin Road Streetscape Resident Petition:
1. Overall footprint and design - for traffic calming and aesthetics: Explore narrowing the width of traffic lanes, creating a “suicide”/Middle turn lane that is an enhancement to the project and safety, and consider narrower sidewalks and whether one or two is optimal.
Staff Recommendation: Any change to the roadway width, curb locations and sidewalk will result in a major delay (Est. 12 Months) and cost (Est. $100,000+) to the project. Staff has no objection to modifications of the pavement markings to reduce the width. Exhibit 1, as shown in Resolution 2018-95, shows 3 acceptable options. Revising the pavement marking plan is a minor cost and would not result in a delay to the project.
2. Utilities: Develop optional utility plans -
a. Retain overhead utilities with poles in current locations.
Staff Recommendation: Keep utilities underground as designed. Overhead utilities poles will increase the impact to the existing trees along the corridor.
b. Underground utilities to each house.
Staff Recommendation: Underground the overhead utilities along Franklin Road only. All properties currently being served overhead directly from existing Franklin Road utility poles will now have underground services run to their homes. Any overhead service that is currently fed from a side street, back yard, or other existing utility pole outside the new roadway footprint will remain aerial.
c. Pass an ordinance requiring vaults for all underground utilities.
Staff Recommendation: MTEMC, Comcast, AT&T and the other utility providers do not allow underground vaults in certain applications. Staff recommends no changes to the current construction plans.
3. Gas Line Location: Move proposed gas line on east side of the Street to underneath the Street.
Staff Recommendation: The design team is still in the process of finalizing the utility design and would typically locate as many utilities as possible within the street. We always try to accommodate these types of requests and would have done this with or without a formal request from the residents. Staff has no objections but must ensure there is adequate room for maintenance. This will be evaluated as part of the final plan revision.
4. Sewer Lines: Reline sewer lines on both sides of the street instead of installing new lines.
Staff Recommendation: The design team is still finalizing the utility design. Staff is planning to line the existing sanitary sewer main on the west side, but we will need to relocate the sewer main on the east side of the project.
5. New Water lines: Any new waterline locations shall minimize intrusion into existing trees (consider installing all new waterlines under the street to reduce any future tree damage).
Staff Recommendation: The design team still finalizing the utility design and would typically locate as many utilities as possible within the street. We always try to accommodate these types of requests and would have done this with or without a formal request from the residents. Staff has no objections but must ensure there is adequate room for installation and maintenance. This will be evaluated as part of the final plan revision.
6. Road elevation: Relate Franklin Rd. elevation to finish floor elevation of the homes, particularly for the six houses located north of Old Liberty Pike.
Staff Recommendation: Any change to the roadway elevation will result in a major delay (Est. 12 Months) and cost (Est. $100,000+) to the project and would have a significant/unknown cost increase associated with the construction phase. In addition, we may not be able to make the storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure work. Staff recommends no changes to proposed elevation of the roadway.
7. Construction Easements: Do no create any temporary construction easements that will endanger or kill trees.
Staff Recommendation: Temporary construction easements are based on what is needed to build the project. We always evaluate these with individual property owners. We only purchase easements necessary to complete the construction phase of the project.
8. Historic Markers: Preserve the historic stone columns marking the entrance to Myles Manor Court and Winslow Road.
Staff Recommendation: Engineering staff has coordinated the temporary removal and replacement of these historic markers during construction. This was previously coordinated with the Planning Dept’s Preservation Planner.
9. Lighting: Lighting levels should be lower and less intrusive than those on Hillsboro Road (confirm exact location of lights, number of lights, height of lights, brightness of lights, etc.)
Staff Recommendation: We are required to meet TDOT lighting guidelines. We can evaluate the lighting to determine if we can reduce the fixture count and still meet the TDOT minimum requirements. The estimated cost would be around $30,000 and would not have any major impact on the current schedule.
10. Tree reimbursement: Fair tree compensation and replacement -
a. Reimburse each resident for tree appraisals of all the trees within the scope of the new proposed easements, by certified arborists of the residents’ choice; for trees that must come down - reimburse the residents the full appraised value of the trees and the cost of replacing the trees.
b. New concept - Use City’s tree bank to place full appraised value of each tree within any of the proposed easements into escrow for 5 years from the date of the project’s completion; if any of the trees die within that timeframe, reimburse the residents the full appraised value of the trees as well as the cost of replacement.
Staff Recommendation: The valuation placed on existing improvements to be acquired by the City is based on the Marshall and Swift© Cost Approach. Property owners will be compensated based on the estimated cost to cure or the estimated cost for the property owner to replace the impacted trees.
11. Consider stamped asphalt brick pattern for the center turn lane for Franklin Road.
Staff Recommendation: The initial capital cost is estimated to be around $350,000. To maintain its decorative appearance, the asphalt would then need to be recoated every 5 years with an epoxy-based coating. This will become a major maintenance burden / cost and staff recommends disapproval of this request. Below is a summary of the estimated 15-year lifecycle cost.
$350,000 Initial Installation Cost
$220,000 5-Yr Maintenance Cost (Epoxy Based Coating)
$230,000 10-yr Maintenance Cost (Epoxy Based Coating)
$400,000 Cost to reinstall with future resurfacing
$1,200,000 Total Estimated Cost at 15 years.
Recommendation
Staff seeks direction from the BOMA on how to proceed with the Franklin Road Corridor Improvements project.