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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPWC Minutes 1999-01-26 DISPOSITION DATE Town of Ithaca Public Works Committee Meeting �g January 26, 1999, 8:00 a.m. Town of Ithaca Highway Facility 1. Approval of Minutes 2. Discussion on Pine Tree Road Speed Limit. 3. Discussion on Safety Training. 4. Discussion on Renwick Road Bridge. 5. Discussion on Water and Sewer Project on Warren Road. 6. Update on New Town Hall. 7. Discussion on Public Works Study. ghk pc: Mary Bryant, Administrative Assistant Joan Lent Noteboom, Town Clerk Andrew Frost, Director of Zoning/Building Jonathan Kanter, Director of Planning • DISPOSITION DATE % c l%/41 Town of Ithaca Public Works Committee Meeting January 26, 1999, 8:00 a.m. Town of Ithaca Highway Facility Present: David Klein, Chairperson; Cathy Valentino; Fred Noteboom; Rich Schoch; Dan Walker; and Gene Redman Guests: Judy Drake; Ward Hungerford,Tompkins County Public Works;Wayne Sincebaugh;George Frantz; and Eva Chiamulera, Planning Intern The meeting began at 8:10 a.m. The minutes for the October 27, 1998, were approved at the meeting. Safety Training Fred Noteboom indicated that there is a problem with compliance on the part of Bolton Point. This needs to be addressed. Cathy Valentino suggested Dan Walker draft a resolution for the Commission to require Bolton Point employees to be trained in Confined Space Entry. An outline of what will be included in the training should be included in the resolution. Dan informed the Committee that the people who have been certified for Confined Space Entry need to be re-certified. Fred indicated that we are in the process of setting up a Competent Person Training in which we will include Bolton Point. Pine Tree Road Speed Limit and Truck Traffic There was a discussion as to what the speed limit on Pine Tree Road is. The speed limit is 35 MPH near Synder Hill Road. Fred will look into the speed limit. Cathy said there is also a concern about the truck traffic that has increased in the last year or so. Ward Hungerford asked what types of trucks were using this road. Cathy said they were 18-wheelers and salt trucks. Cathy said she has talked to Cornell University regarding the traffic, and they indicated that they are not the source of the truck traffic. She also talked to them about the impacts of having a lower weight limit on the road. Cornell University indicated that it would not have a problem with the weight limit. Public Works Committee Minutes Page 2 ( Ward suggested that Tompkins County put up counters on Pine Tree Road to see how �J much traffic is truck traffic, etc. Ward will begin the count in April and share this data with us. Cathy said that the neighbors feel the truck traffic is becoming a problem. Ward asked what time of the day is the truck traffic the greatest. Cathy said in the evenings and later at night. David Klein asked if there is one certain trucking outfit using this route. If so, is there a way to track this. Cathy said she would see if some neighbors would look out for this. Dan suggested that since Mitchell Street can not be used since the City made some changes there, maybe trucks are finding a different route such as Pine Tree Road. Ward indicated that the traffic patterns around Tompkins County are changing. Fred said that the NESTS (NorthEast Subarea Transportation Study) has been looking into this too. Cathy asked if New York State would reduce the speed on Pine Tree Road to Ellis Hollow Road. Ward felt if the speed limit was 35 MPH, the State would not lower it. Ward explained that there has continues to be economic development in the East Hill area. Burger King is going to being building there. Cathy said that the NESTS Working Group has not addressed economic development. Cathy said that the down side of restricting truck traffic to the Town of Ithaca is a negative impact on economic development. There was a discussion regarding the amount of salt trucks using Route 13 and that Cargill has had a terrific amount of salt hauled from the Lansing Plant. Renwick Bridge Fred informed the Committee that Tompkins County has had LaBella Engineering Firm look at different options for redoing the bridge. Their findings show that the most cost- effective method of repairing the bridge is to replace it. He explained that Tompkins County estimates the Town's portion of the costs to be around$26,000. We have budgeted $29,000. Fred indicated that the Town should be able to review the plans soon. Wayne Sincebaugh informed the Committee that under the current bridge is a structure left from a previous bridge. Public Works Committee Minutes Page 3 Cathy said that the Town Board should review the plans for this bridge as soon as possible. She feels that the Town should be able to make comments and review the design before we commit to paying the Town's share of the costs. Fred said he has a few concerns that need to be addressed in the bridge design. He is concerned with the lighting in that area. He is also concerned about the pedestrian and bicycle traffic on that bridge. Cathy asked Fred to write a letter to Tompkins County to inform them that the Town would like to see the preliminary designs and approve the design before the Town will commit to paying any of the costs. There was a general discussion regarding the West King Road Bridge and the bad potholes developing in the approaches and on the bridge deck. Gene has contacted the County about the situation and was assured that they will fix the problem. Warren Road Water and Sewer Project Update Dan Walker handed out a report on the water and sewer projects for Warren Road. He indicated that the costs for the water realignment would be about half a million. Dan feels that the Town can get the money from Bolton Point. The Town would not have to rr bond this part of the project. Dan said that the water would be moved to the west side of the road, by boring under the road. He indicated that there would be 26 short lateral connects (same side of the road) and 22 long lateral connects (bored under the road). David suggested having a public meeting for the residents. Fred felt that we should see if Tompkins County would have one. If not,we should invite them to ours. The date for the public information meeting has been scheduled for March 3,1999,from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Dan will find out if it can be held at the Dewitt Middle School. Cathy asked how the notification should be handled. Fred suggested putting letters in the doors of all the residents in the area. It will be publicized in the paper also. Fred asked about the access to the schools while this project is being worked on. Dan said that he would like to start the project in May. The restoration work will be shared with Tompkins County. Dan indicated that most of the sewer is outside of the right-of-way. • Public Works Committee Minutes Page 4 Dan is proposing that the current sewer line be abandoned after the new sewer line is put in. He said that about half of the new sewer line could be "slip lined" and that the laterals to the houses will have to be replaced. There will be more restoration work there. Dan indicated that he would need to get easements,including one from Dewitt Middle School. Fred said that we need to move ahead on purchasing a video camera. Cathy said to do this as soon as possible. The video camera is very useful so the Town can take pictures of a work site before any work is done. This way the Town can restore, as best they can, the area to the original look and have better documentation in the event of a dispute with a landowner. David asked if the sewer lines are slip lined,will the flow be reduced? Dan said no. Slip lining will reduce an 8" line to about 71/2" line,but the flow will not decrease,because the lining is very smooth. This project needs to be put on the Town Board's agenda for February. Town Hall Update Dan handed out a time line for the new Town Hall construction project. He indicated that the Architectural firm will be presenting a design at the February Town Board meeting. There was a discussion regarding the site plan reviews. The City of Ithaca will review the plan, but it will be as a courtesy only. There is no requirement for a site plan review. David indicated that the ramp that Thomas Associates plans for the Post Office seems awkward. Dan said that he would look at this. We are planning to start construction in July, although.it is unclear if the Post Office will be done with their construction then. The Post Office will be in violation of the contract if it is not done then. There was a discussion regarding having separate meters for gas and electric. The Town will charge the Post Office for water. Cathy said that we should charge at least the minimum charge for hot water. David indicated that the hand out depicted a 17-week construction period. Public Works Committee Minutes Page 5 There was a discussion regarding the money left for the project. The roof will be put in the building project specifications as an alternative. Fred asked about the Highway/Parks Facility. We are not sure where to go from here. The facility is in need of a new roof and heating system. David said that we should move ahead with a final design by the end of 1999, so that construction can start in 2000. Cathy agreed with this and instructed Fred to do what we can to start this. Cathy was concerned about time with two separate construction projects. The Highway/Parks staff will be working on the Highway facility plan. Dan will be in charge of Town Hall project. Chuck, Creig and Wayne will be overseeing the Warren Road Project, and Chuck will oversee the tank-painting project. Trail Proposal George Frantz introduced his intern,Eva Chiamulera. He then introduced a trail proposal from Honness Lane to Westview Lane on the Trinity Lutheran Church property. This might be a good time to look at this, since the (( church will be rebuilding their parking lot. The church would like to do some of their \_1 proposed work this year and expand the parking lot next year. They will be raising their parking lot 3 feet. The trail would need several retaining walls and fencing. It would also include a retention pond. This trail would be an.8' trail with 2' shoulders. The costs associated with the retaining walls would be about$15,000. The total trail costs would be about$70,000. Dan said that he was concerned about the basin (retention pond) area. He would like to review this more. Cathy was concerned about the costs of the project. There was a discussion regarding the need for fences and vegetation along the frail. George said the fences were needed because the trail would be about 10 to 15 feet higher then the base of the houses. Rich Schoch was concerned about fencing as it is often vandalized. George indicated that the retaining walls would costs about$15,000, the plantings would cost about$17,000,fencing would cost about$8,500, and the Trail would cost about$13,000. These are the "big ticket items". These costs included labor. Some rebuilding of the catch basin the church has proposed would cost about$3,500. r - , Public Works Committee Minutes Page 6 (( Fred said that we need to evaluate the costs versus the need in that area as opposed to J other projects. Dan indicated that there is a path on the other side of the church property but the church does not want the liability. George indicated that this trail would link the East Ithaca Recreation Way (Honness Lane section) to the Grandview Park. David felt that this project needs to be "scaled" down before going to the Town Board. Dan indicated that we need to review the drainage on Westview to go along with this project. Storm water management needs to be reviewed too. Dan would like to get the survey data for this area. Dan said that this might be a two-year project. George indicated that the Town would have to get an easement for this. It should be a permanent easement. The Church would like a temporary 10 to 15 year easement. Most of the trail would be in the set back area on the west side of the church property. There was a discussion regarding the Town doing some grading work. Dan said that we could look into realignment (above the retention pond). Proposed Public Works Study There was a discussion regarding having David at the meeting when this was discussed. We can call David to see if he can go over this with us before the meeting. Basically only changes would be job classification--responsibilities. Would like to sit down and go over this on Wednesday after the Town Board Prep. meeting. Cathy discussed the February board meeting,which is looking very long. Defer the trail from the February meeting. It needs to be reviewed more anyway. It is on the work plan but will be on hold until the Board reviews and gives direction. ghk