HomeMy WebLinkAboutPWC Minutes 2018-12-18
Public Works Committee
December 18, 2018
Members present: Rod Howe, Chair; Tee-Ann Hunter, and Rich DePaolo
Staff and others: Bill Goodman, Paulette Rosa, Jim Weber, Dan Thaete, Rich Tenkate, Joe
Hulbert, Judy Drake, Mike Solvig, Mike Smith and Nick Goldsmith
Note - a number of Forest Home residents were present
1. Approval of Minutes of November 20, 2018 – No changes – Unanimous.
2. Member Comments – None
3. Discuss next steps for Forest Home Drive
Mr. Howe started the discussion by saying he felt the question is what are the next steps?
What information do we need to gather, what information can be gathered in-house, and what
needs to be contracted with outside agencies?
Mr. Howe stated that he felt it was the feeling of the Board that it is preferable to keep the
road open, if possible. If it has to be closed for some period of time the Board understands
that, but there is a general interest in keeping it two-lanes, if possible. There are a lot of
options to research and discuss.
The key question is what information do we need and how do we go about gathering it in a
timely fashion?
Mr. Weber reiterated that this has been identified as a Capital Improvement Project (CIP) for
reconstruction as we do in other areas throughout town; we have pavement failures and safety
issues here and this is slated for 2020 with design surveys usually happening in Jan – March of
that year. Estimates were put together for the CIP and due to the very restrained work area
and the trail immediately below the road it will require easements and protecting the users of
the trail. There are geometric issues and encroachments on the uphill side and a number of
issues that were identified in the original project were included.
The concern with the guardrails is a safety concern. The section near McIntyre is especially
concerning and we have been in contact with vendors who have told us the standard rail will
not work and there is concern that the depth to bedrock in that area will be problematic and
costly.
Questions to ask then for the next step.
Speeding up the timeline – Mr. Weber thought if this were to be added, something should
come off.
Ms. Hunter asked if the reconstruction was in kind or were there improvements that would
change the configuration because that should be decided to inform any study. Mr. Weber said
it would be the current configuration but additional clearance on either side would be needed
to put guiderails and for maintenance space.
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Mr. Howe asked what the capacity is for in-house study of this and Mr. Weber said if we are
looking at our standard reconstruction of roads, we have done most of that in-house. There is
some question about the need for walls and that would be determined later. If we are looking
at walls, we would need consultants.
If the road was made one-way, then consultants would need to be hired to determine those
ripple effects.
Mr. Thaete noted that some things can be done in-house, but we have a very aggressive
schedule right now and something else would have to be pushed off.
Mr. DePaolo noted that the information we need is to inform us on whether a temporary
closure is needed and that is why it would be good to know if in-house staff can do this or we
should farm this out.
Ms. Hunter thought there would be residents open to facilitating easements for this project so
the road isn’t closed or changed to one-way.
The question is whether to keep it open while we figure this out or close it to one-lane or close
it fully.
Mr. Weber will try to get an estimate from the vendor regarding a temporary rail, which may
have to come out during road construction that was the original plan. He will try to have that
by the January PWC meeting.
The gabions and their size were discussed; residents of FH thought Mr. Fabbroni, who was the
Town Engineer at the time, might be able to answer some of the questions about the
installation of them.
4. Town Hall charging station
The committee discussed the two choices for the station. Given snow removal etc., the best
placement seems to be where the Code vehicles are parked. Jim reviewed some of the
Code/permitting issues, the biggest of which is punching a hole through Town Hall wall or going
up and through the facet to feed the conduit wires.
There is no extra spot for employees to park and charge, but some shuffling can happen
amongst those who have charging cars.
5. Easement Policy status
The policy that was discussed last year was never formally adopted by the Town Board. Jim
noted this has been published as part of our Sewer Study and it was sent through the
newsletter, so this is a procedural issue. The Committee moved it to the January meeting.
Added item – PRV valve
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6. PW Admin Addition status
The group discussed options for the bid documents and items that could be pulled out as
alternates to control costs. The need for a larger meeting space for trainings was discussed.
The number of staff when the building was designed was about 36 and it is now 45 without
seasonal employees. Other municipal staff also come to the bigger trainings put on by NYS
agencies, who are much more apt to put on the trainings when they are opened to other
municipalities, and we invite Bolton Point.
Ultimately, it would have been better to have done this in the original design/building but that
was scaled back to save costs then and now we need it. It would have been much cheaper then
– lesson to think about this time around.
Project Updates
Apple Orchard PRV
Jim explained this is the transfer to the Town of Dryden. Guy Krogh is the attorney on this one.
Ready to go.
Sewer Study
Jim reported that there have been some surprises but moving along at about 85% of the field
investigation done.
The modeling is going to inform the town on what is going to be needed for future build out
and then it becomes a policy question on who does what and who pays for what.
Pump stations are going to be a big question in the future build out scenarios. What sizes, who
pays, where, etc. We need to think about criteria because that information is needed to
complete the modeling.
Town/Cornell/Dryden Sewer
There is an issue with an increase in size and in looking at that, we have found Cornell is not
paying for some of their usage and they are actually taking in sewage from Varna and putting it
through our system so therefore we are paying for that.
NE Student Housing
We can’t move forward with designing this infrastructure before we know what the Dryden
input is going to be. Varna has multiple developments going on and we can’t know what is
needed without some basic intermunicipal discussions and decisions and cost sharing.
Bill reported that he is aware of these issues and parts of the contracts that are affected have a
requirement that they talk to us and he is moving the topic forward.
Homestead Circle
Request for stop sign(s). Some discussion followed. Stop signs would have to be added via
local law which is a process and Jim thought yield signs might be better suited but it seems the
speeder is the UPS truck and maybe the simplest solution is to contact them.
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