City Council Meeting Date: December 12, 2017
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: David Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Sean Simonson, Engineering Manager
Subject:
TITLE
Spring Creek Road Reconstruction Project Discussion
BODY
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council discusses the Spring Creek Road Reconstruction Project and provides direction on Project Scope.
Summary Report:
At the August 22, 2017 City Council meeting, Council passed Resolution 2017-065 (Attachment 1) which directed staff to prepare a feasibility report for the 2018 Spring Creek Road Reconstruction. It was proposed to complete feasibility reports for three proposed segments of Spring Creek Road. The three segments are as follows: (Attachment 1)
• Segment 1 - Jefferson Parkway to the North lot line of the recently constructed Hills of Spring Creek 7th Addition. This segment is a Municipal State-Aid (MSA) roadway.
• Segment 2 - Jefferson Parkway to Superior Drive to Jefferson Parkway Non-MSA.
• Segment 3 - just north of Huron Court to Woodley Street (MSA).
The reconstruction of Segment 1 of Spring Creek Road was included in the 2017-2021 Capital Improvement Project (CIP) and the proposed 2018-2022 CIP (Attachment 2) as a 2018 construction project. Segment 2 is currently not part of the proposed 2018-2022 CIP. Segment 3 is currently programmed into the proposed 2018-2022 CIP as a 2022 construction project to be coordinated with the replacement of the bridge over Spring Creek where the City will apply for bridge bond funds which will pay for roughly 50% of the bridge replacement costs.
Spring Creek Road is identified as a Major Collector in the current Northfield Comprehensive
Plan. Segments 1 and 3 are designated as MSA roads in the Northfield MSA Street System.
Generally, all public infrastructure located on the westerly side of the corridor is operated by the City and is within easements and/or right-of-way. In order to utilize State Aid funds for segments 1 and 3 the entire road right-of-way needs to be within the Corporate City Limit. This means the right-of-way needs to be acquired and annexed into the City.
Proposed Options
Options for construction would be a full-urbanized cross-section and a half-urbanized / half-rural cross-section (Attachment 3). A full-urbanized cross-section includes two travel lanes with shoulders, curb and gutter on both sides, a boulevard and multipurpose trail on the westerly side and graded boulevard with sidewalk on the easterly side. A half-urbanized / half-rural cross-section includes two travel lanes; the westerly side will have a shoulder with curb and gutter, boulevard and shared use trail, and the easterly side will have a smaller shoulder and a typical rural drainage ditch. The easterly side would then be constructed to a fully-urbanized cross-section when the adjacent property is developed. In review of the cost differences between full urban and urban/half-rural, staff is recommending that the roadway be built as a full urban section. The total cost difference for all three segments to be constructed as full urban versus urban/rural is $327,887.
In review of the MSA fund balance projection, the City can advance up to 5 times its MSA construction allotment or roughly $3,000,000. Currently, with the programed MSA projects, Segment 3 fits in for funding in 2022. The only caveat to that is it could come sooner but $1.5 million is identified for use at Jefferson Parkway and TH 246.
Funding for Segment 2, since it is not a state aid route, cannot use the general street bonding option due to the properties on the east side being outside the Jurisdictional Boundary of the city. Therefore, funding could come from Capital Reserves or a tax abatement improvement process. See Attachment 5 from Ehlers Inc. that describes this financial mechanism.
Next steps
1. Identify segments to be incorporated with the project.
2. Work with property owners to acquire Right-of-Way.
3. Work with Northfield Township and Property Owners to Annex Right-of-Way into the City.
4. While steps 2 and 3 are underway, Staff will bring back accepting the Feasibility Report and ordering preparation of plans and specs.
Alternative Options:
Council has the choice of which options to select.
Financial Impacts:
Segment 1
Full Urban $1,343,024
Urban/Half Rural $1,231,101
Segment 2
Full Urban $483,659
Urban/Half Rural $442,210
Segment 3
Full Urban $1,717,874
Urban/Half Rural $1,543,359
Within the Hills of Spring Creek 7th Addition development agreement, the developer provided the City with $30,368 for improving Spring Creek Road. This obligated the City to improve the road when Hills of Spring Creek 8th/9th are final platted and no longer than 5 years from the agreement or October 6, 2020.
Tentative Timelines: