Memo - Street Reconstruction - Utility Service PolicyMemorandum
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
CC: Rick Getschow, City Manager nnpp
From: John R. Bradford, City Engineer�h q
Date: 10/21/2010 v
Re: Street Reconstruction — Utility Service Policy
This work session item concerns the policy for dealing with water and sanitary
sewer services to properties within street reconstruction areas.
Each year, City staff and engineering consultants work together to assess the
condition of the existing utilities within street reconstruction project areas.
Frequently, the main line utilities are only in need of spot repairs. Occasionally, as
in the Parkridge neighborhood, wholesale replacement of all utilities is warranted.
Service replacements have varied between voluntary and mandatory replacement of
water services depending on the scope of utility work. Sanitary services were first
replaced with a reconstruction project in the Parkridge neighborhood. Both of these
service lines are owned by the property owner.
The following policy discussion is divided into three sections: General Utility Work,
Water Services and Sanitary Sewer Services. The discussion for each concerns only
the portion of the services that are within the right-of-way.
General Utility Work
In areas where the water main is not being replaced, property owners currently have
the option of having their water service replaced from the main to the property line
during the reconstruction project. The City covers one third of the cost of the
service including the curb stop (valve located at the property line). Many residents
have taken advantage of this program.
October 21, 2010
The purpose of this program was to reduce the number of service line repairs that
occur in the right-of-way after the street reconstruction is complete. Service line
repairs after street reconstruction have several significant negative impacts:
• Diminished life span of the roadway and reduced ride quality
• Additional cost to homeowner making repairs
• Aggravation of nearby residents who are paying assessments on new street
Anytime a street has a spot excavated and backfilled, the structure beneath the patch
is not a strong as the surrounding pavement. The edges of the excavation are a weak
spot that leads to future cracking and additional maintenance (crack sealing).
To minimize this weakness and address the ride quality and appearance issues,
current street patching policy requires larger patches on newer streets. That is, a
brand new street requires a patch that extends all the way across and as wide as the
street, while an old street requires a patch that is two feet larger on each side of an
excavation. To protect homeowners from these costs, the City pays for asphalt costs
greater than $750.
Staff receives calls each year when water and sewer services are repaired under new
streets. Typically, the resident is upset that that after a summer of construction, they
need to deal with it again. They also typically complain about wasted resources and
why weren't these things done when the street was already torn up.
Water Services
As noted above, the City has been encouraging residents to replace their water
service with reconstruction projects for years. Staff is now proposing to mandate the
replacement of residential water service in reconstruction areas. The City would pay
for half of the cost, and there would be an exemption for copper services that are less
than 10 years old. This is the same policy that was enacted for the Parkridge project.
Most of the water system in town was constructed more than 50 years ago. Most of
the service lines have never been replaced in the street. The materials range from
copper to galvanized steel and lead. Copper lines wear out at the connection point in
the main due to the wearing action of the water passing through it. Galvanized lines
slowly clog up with mineral deposits and lead poses a health risk. Many times, the
service line has been replaced from the curb stop to the house, leaving a lead
connection from the main to the property line.
A primary policy concern of this work is the cost to homeowners. The following
table shows the breakdown of costs when done prior to, during, and after a
reconstruction project. Street repair work is included in the project costs when done
"During Recon."
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Pipe Work
Street Base
Street Pavm't
Total
October 21, 2010
Prior to Recon
During
Recon
After Recon
Resident City
Resident
City
Resident Cit
$1,100;
$0
$450;
$450
$1,100; $0
$400;
$0
$0;
$0
$1,500; $0
$400;
$0
$0;
$0
$750; $2,000
$1,900;
$0
$450;
$4501
$3,350; $2,000
As a reminder, the following table shows the assessments for the Parkridge Project.
Please note that the water and sewer figures are averages.
Item Amount
Street $5,6TTTF
Water Service $450.00
Sewer Service $250.00
oia
Sanitary Sewer Services
Sanitary sewer services pose two issues. First, as we have discussed many times,
the Metropolitan Council is focusing on Inflow and Infiltration (I/I) into the sewer
system. One of the largest contributors of 1/I is cracked sewer services. The water
let into the system through these cracks costs every customer in the City, as it is
metered and charged to the City by the gallon. These charges are passed on to
customers through their rates. The second issue is the presence of substandard
construction materials such as Orangeburg.
With every street reconstruction project, we televise the sanitary sewer mains to
determine the condition of the pipe. With today's technology, we can now send a
camera up the service line to visually inspect it. The inspection will let us identify
the pipe material, any cracked pipe, and root intrusions that may lead to sewer
backups for the homeowner. All of this information can then be given to each
homeowner for their use. The cost of televising service lines is approximately $30
to $40 per service when done in conjunction with main line televising.
We propose to conduct these service line investigations. In the case where
substandard pipe material, and/or cracked pipes are found in the right-of-way,
repairs or replacement can take place. Where these conditions are found outside the
right-of-way, the homeowner would have one year to make adequate repairs.
For the Parkridge project, the total replacement cost of the sewer service from the
main to the property line was $400 to $600. This cost was split between the City
and the homeowner. The sewer in this neighborhood was generally 10 feet deep.
Deeper sewers would likely have more expensive service lines, possibly up to twice
as much. The road repair costs are similar to that shown in the table above.
We look forward to discussing these issues at the work session and answering any
questions you may have.
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