MEMORANDUM
To: Mayor and Town Council
From: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
Subject: Streetscape Construction Update
Date: May 22, 2000
This report provides information about upcoming
Streetscape construction and planning activities.
On November 8, 1999 the Town Council authorized the
Town Manager to complete detailed working drawings for the next section of
Streetscape improvements and to schedule this construction to begin after
University of North Carolina spring graduation. The section of Streetscape improvements selected by the Council
was on the north side of the 100 block of East Franklin Street from the
mid-block crosswalk to Columbia Street.
This construction work will be done with Town labor at an estimated cost
of $75,000. Once this work is complete, approximately $349,000 in currently
available bond funding will remain in the Streetscape improvements budget for
use on future projects.
On April 19, 2000, the Council received a petition
from County Commission Chairman Moses Carey, Jr. requesting that the Town fund
Streetscape improvements in front of the Skills Development Center on West
Franklin Street. Options for funding
and constructing this work are presented in a separate agenda item and will
affect the Streetscape improvements budget available for future projects.
DISCUSSION
The staff has completed the working drawings for the
selected section of Streetscape improvements and is scheduled to begin
construction on June 4, 2000. A meeting
has been scheduled for May 16, 2000 to discuss construction issues with
adjacent merchants and property owners.
As we have done with previous sections of Streetscape construction, we
will make every effort to minimize disruption to these adjacent businesses.
The work is planned to be done in three phases,
starting at the mid-block crosswalk and working west towards Columbia
Street. We anticipate completing the
first phase, up to Varsity Alley, before the July 4th holiday, and
the next two phases before the University resumes classes in mid-August. As we have done previously, the demolition
and the underground utility work will be done between midnight and 9:00 am to
reduce the effect that this noisy and dusty work will have on businesses. The remaining construction work will
generally be done between 7:00 am and 3:30 pm.
Unlike the section of Streetscape construction done
last year, we do not anticipate the need to coordinate this work with upgrades
to OWASA’s water lines. We do
anticipate having to work around existing sewer service lines and other
underground utilities, but we hope that this project will proceed more quickly
than we were able to proceed last year.
The most difficult element of this section will be the construction of a
low retaining wall and steps to replace the deteriorating stepped wall between
Varsity Alley and Office Supply and More.
Construction of this wall will make it particularly challenging to work
around several existing trees. There
are currently seven trees in the project area, most of which are in declining
condition. We are planning on retaining
the large elm in front of Kerr Drugs and two smaller trees at either end of the
project. We are planning on replacing
the remaining four trees with six new 3 ˝” – 4” caliper trees to be installed
this fall.
This coming fall we plan to return to the Council with options for the next section of Streetscape construction. At that time we also plan to provide cost estimates for Streetscape lighting improvements based on Town ownership and maintenance of the fixtures rather than on paying Duke Power Company’s one-time decorative adder fee. Utilizing this approach we would purchase the fixtures directly from the manufacturer and contract out the installation and possibly the ongoing maintenance with a private electrical contractor. We have had difficulties thus far finding private electrical contractors willing to bid on the installation and maintenance work, but we hope we will be able to develop these cost estimates as part of our fall report.