AGENDA #10
To: Mayor and Town Council
From: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
Subject: Streetscape Construction Update
Date: May 21, 2001
This report provides information about construction scheduling and design issues related to the Town’s upcoming Streetscape improvement project. Design issues addressed include tree replacements, bus stop redesign and the use of modular newspaper racks on the North Columbia Street section.
On December 11, 2000, the Town Council authorized the Town Manager to complete detailed working drawings for the next section of Streetscape improvements and to schedule the construction to begin after the University’s spring graduation. The Council selected two segments of sidewalk to be reconstructed:
This construction work will be done using Town labor at an estimated materials cost of $85,000.
At the December 11, 2000, meeting the Council also authorized the Town Manager to coordinate with Duke Power Company for the installation of new street and pedestrian light fixtures on sections of the 100 Block of East Franklin Street where Streetscape improvements have already been completed. Duke Power has received a formal request for the installation of ten new light pole and fixture combinations and these improvements are anticipated to be installed this summer or early in the fall. A formal request for two new mast arm signals at the mid-block crosswalk will be made once engineering work needed for approval from the North Carolina Department of Transportation is complete.
In addition to the Town’s Streetscape construction, Orange County is currently soliciting bids from contractors to build approximately 175 feet of improvements in conjunction with a courtyard to be installed at the County’s Skills Development Center at 503 West Franklin Street. The new sidewalk, utility duct bank, and amenities will extend from South Roberson Street west to the Chapel Hill News building at 505 West Franklin Street and is being paid for with $60,000 in Town Streetscape bond funds. Streetscape improvements were made to the remainder of the block west to Graham Street by a private developer when the Chapel Hill News building was expanded in 1999.
Construction Scheduling
Public Works staff has completed the working drawings for the sections designated for reconstruction and is currently scheduling a meeting with merchants who will be affected by construction of the first project section. Demolition is scheduled to begin on this section of the east side of the 100 block of Columbia Street on Sunday night, June 3. The Columbia Street work is planned in two phases, each approximately 150 feet long. The first phase will begin at Rosemary Street and continue south to the service alley on the south side of Parking Lot #2. The second phase, from the alley south to Franklin Street, will begin after the July 4th holiday. We anticipate that this work will be completed by Friday, August 3.
Construction of the second project section, extending approximately 60 feet east from the corner of Henderson Street and East Franklin Street, is scheduled to begin on Sunday night, August 5. This short section is anticipated to be completed by the time classes resume at UNC on August 21. The staff will schedule a meeting with the neighboring merchants to share information about the project prior to beginning construction of this project section.
As in previous years, the more disruptive operations including demolition and excavation for the underground utility duct bank will be done at night, between midnight and 9:00 a.m., to minimize the effect on pedestrians and businesses. A second construction crew will carry out the remaining work between 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Design Issues
The second small project section, east of Henderson Street, is straightforward. There is one existing tree that will remain and one proposed new tree that will be added in a newly constructed raised brick planter. In the first section, on Columbia Street, there are several design issues, including; tree replacements, the redesigned bus stop and the proposed modular newspaper racks, that are described in more detail here:
Tree Replacements:
There are currently seven 10” – 15” dbh maple trees and two 4” – 5” dbh pistache trees in the Columbia Street project area. All of the trees were planted at sidewalk grade in small unpaved areas behind the curb. Three of the maple trees are in severe decline and the remaining four are in poor to fair condition. We are planning to retain the two healthiest maples and replace the remaining five with two species of native oaks installed in raised brick planters similar in size and design to those constructed in front of the Bank of America building in 1999. We anticipate that the two remaining maples may need to be replaced within the next few years and intend to construct planters for the replacement trees at that time. Our experience has been that trees installed in raised planters become established more quickly and perform notably better than trees installed at sidewalk grade.
The two smaller pistache trees were installed in 1999 and we believe that they are still small enough to be successfully relocated. We are intending to move these trees to existing unpaved areas in the southwest corner of Town Parking Lot #2 so that we will be able to construct two additional raised planters in the Columbia Street right-of-way. Once this years project is complete, the new Streetscape area will include the two retained maple trees and a total of seven new 4” – 5” caliper oaks installed in raised brick planters.
Redesigned Bus Stop:
The most prominent Streetscape element in the Columbia Street section is the bus stop, currently located mid-block in the short sidewalk section between the two service alleys. This present location is also the section of the block with the greatest elevation change (approximately 2 feet) between the building and the street. This grade change makes it infeasible to construct a handicap accessible bus shelter at this location.
To make the bus stop safer and more user friendly we plan to relocate it north approximately 100 feet to an essentially level area adjacent to Parking Lot #2. In addition to allowing handicap accessibility, this location provides an area large enough to incorporate a grouping of additional benches, the proposed newspaper racks, and a newly constructed metal framed kiosk.
In order to accommodate the desired Streetscape amenities in this area and the proposed raised brick planters elsewhere, we intend to expand the brick amenity strip to a width of ten feet. This will result in an 8’ wide concrete sidewalk, which is somewhat narrower than the 9’ to 10’ wide sidewalks on East Franklin Street, but wider than the 6’-8” sidewalk on the west side of the 100 block of North Columbia.
Modular Newspaper Racks:
The Columbia Street section includes the largest single concentration of newspaper racks in the downtown area. There are currently 30 actively used newspaper racks located along the sidewalk adjacent to Parking Lot #2. Of these, 21 are for free publications and 9 are coin-activated. Our objective is to construct the Streetscape improvements along Columbia Street in a manner that will accommodate all of the existing publications while minimizing the visual clutter associated with this large number of differently designed and randomly placed racks.
In order to organize rack placement we intend to construct 2’ wide slightly elevated concrete strips along the back and sides of the bus shelter and at one end of an adjacent planter specifically designated for the newspaper racks. To minimize the amount of space needed for the racks we intend to utilize two modular racks to accommodate all of the existing free publications. These modular racks will each be approximately 4’ tall by 4’ wide and will be placed facing the sidewalk along the back of the bus shelter. This system by itself should eliminate the need for 21 of the existing individual racks. Modular racks are in use at University Square, Timberlyne Shopping Center and elsewhere, and are available in a variety of sizes, styles and colors. We are contacting newspaper rack manufacturers and anticipate purchasing dark green heavy-duty metal modular racks similar in design but without advertising and slightly larger than the modular rack pictured in attachment #3.
We will propose for the Council’s consideration at a later date an ordinance to require that free publications being distributed in this area of Streetscape use these modular racks.
The concrete strips will also be able to accommodate the remaining nine coin-activated racks. We intend to require that coin-activated racks that are installed in this area meet uniform rack design guidelines. These guidelines will require the use of a standard size ground mounted (no pedestal) dark green metal rack with advertising limited to the front side of each rack. Newspaper racks meeting these guidelines are available from several manufacturers and Town staff will provide a list of these sources to vendors upon request. Prior to beginning Streetscape construction it will be necessary to remove the newspaper racks and we will contact all of the individual newspaper vendors to inform them of our plans at that time.
We will propose for the Council’s consideration at a later date an ordinance to require that newspaper vendors installing racks in this area of Streetscape utilize a uniform rack design and locate the racks in the designated rack area. We believe that the proposed Streetscape improvements as currently designed can accommodate varying newspaper rack design and placement options and therefore do not believe that it is necessary to enact the ordinances before proceeding with construction.
We believe that by utilizing a smaller number of more uniform racks and by placing them adjacent to vertical construction their visual impact will be significantly reduced while at the same time continuing to afford both free and paid publications a reasonable opportunity to be available along this area of public right of way. We anticipate that the Town-owned modular racks for free publications will require considerable ongoing maintenance and may be prone to vandalism but believe that this location provides a good opportunity to test this system and determine if it may be suitable for use in other downtown locations as well.
We also note that there has been considerable discussion in the community over a number of years about the possible benefits and drawbacks of regulating newspaper racks and anticipate that there may be some objections to our recommended newspaper rack regulations. We believe, however, that the Town has the authority to place reasonable restrictions on the design and placement of newspaper racks and believe that the guidelines outlined above and proposal for Ordinance regulations for use on Columbia Street are reasonable.
In addition to the newspaper rack system we intend to employ, we considered two other systems. These systems, utilizing modular racks that are owned and maintained by private companies, are described briefly below:
LONE WOLF PUBLISHING: This company, located in Raleigh, NC, provides and maintains modular racks for free publications at shopping centers and other private properties around the Triangle. They have a very limited selection of racks available and have not located any of their racks on public rights-of-ways. Newspaper publishers pay a fee to Lone Wolf Publishing to use their racks.
We believe that this system is not appropriate for use in the public right-of-way. We believe that, unlike private property owners, the Town cannot require publishers of free publications to contract with a specific vendor for use of a modular rack.
CITY SOLUTIONS: This company, located in Indianapolis, IN, provides and maintains modular racks for free and pay publications within the public rights-of-way in Indianapolis. The company has also done some demonstration projects in Tampa, Fl, and is interested in expanding into other communities. Attachment #4 is a marketing brochure that they have distributed. There is no direct charge to the community and they provide rack space to publishers free of charge. They generate revenue from billboard-type advertising placed on the rear and sides of the prominently sited modular racks. They require that the host community provide them with an exclusive long-range franchise agreement. Their franchise agreement with the City of Indianapolis is for 20 years.
We believe that this system is not appropriate for use in Chapel Hill at this time. We believe that conspicuous billboard-type advertising would be inconsistent with the Town’s sign ordinance. With no examples of the system or company presence in North Carolina we are uncertain whether City Solutions would be able to provide a dependable product and therefore do not believe that a long-range exclusive franchise agreement is advisable.
CONCLUSION
The Public Works Department has scheduled construction to begin on this year’s Streetscape sections on June 3, 2001. The work is anticipated to be completed prior to the time classes resume at UNC on August 21. Proposed improvements in the 100 block of North Columbia Street include the construction of five raised brick planters which will involve the replacement of five declining 10” – 15” dbh maple trees. We intend to relocate the bus stop approximately 100’ north of its current location to a larger, more level area that can accommodate handicap access, additional benches and an area designated for newspaper rack placement.
We intend to initiate a newspaper rack system that will include Town owned modular racks for free publications and design guidelines for privately owned coin-activated racks. We will propose for the Council’s consideration at a later date ordinances to require that the free publications being distributed in this area use the modular racks and that vendors installing coin-activated racks follow the design guidelines. We believe that the proposed Streetscape improvements as currently designed can accommodate varying newspaper rack design and placement options and therefore do not believe that it is necessary to enact ordinances before proceeding with construction.
ATTACHMENTS
1) Streetscape Plan – North Columbia Street Section (p. 7).
2) Streetscape Plan – East Franklin Street Section (p. 8)
3) Modular Newspaper Rack Example (p. 9).
4) City Solutions Rack System Information (p. 10).