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<br />City Engineer Jankowski stated the City did not have a transition in their sidewalk standards. <br />This area is some of the first sidewalk that went into the City in a subdivision. Prior to that the <br />sidewalk along Sunwood Drive was done as part of the contract with the state. The City simply <br />did not have a standard. Royal Oaks Realty presented their specifications. The plan showed a 4- <br />inch sidewalk, but the spec said driveway sidewalks need to be 6 inches. The MnDOT standard <br />for sidewalk says within the driveway the sidewalk needs to be 6 inches, so it was an industry <br />standard. He stated it is true that Royal Oaks Realty never denied wanting to fix the sidewalks, <br />but they never responded to staff. He wrote four letters and the only response was a phone call <br />back in last fall saying they should wait until spring. He sent a letter back in February asking <br />about a schedule and did not receive a response. He did not have much choice but to go to the <br />Committee to get this taken care of. He stated he shares Mr. Black's concerns about removing <br />all of the sidewalks in the driveways. Staff felt a reasonable alternative was to replace the <br />sidewalks in the driveways that are broken. The dilemma is if the sidewalks are not broken now <br />and break in the future, and if the City will pay for those sidewalks out of their pocket knowing <br />they allowed them to be put in not at industry standard. Staff determined to retain a certain <br />amount of money from the developer to fix the sidewalks that will break in the future. They are <br />taking a gamble as to how many will break and will take responsibility for them. <br /> <br />Chairperson Elvig noted the amount of money in escrow is approximately $38,500. <br /> <br />Mr. Black stated a critical point that gets to the issue of the standard and the notification is that <br />the standard Royal Oaks Realty received came from the City's Engineering Department. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson stated she would think the developer would ask the clarifying question if <br />the City provides a specification of 4 inches for a sidewalk and the MnDOT standard for a <br />driveway sidewalk is 6 inches. <br /> <br />City Engineer Jankowski stated when there is a discrepancy between plans and specifications, <br />specifications take precedent. <br /> <br />Chairperson Elvig asked what Royal Oaks Realty is proposing. <br /> <br />Mr. Black replied he thinks the solution is to establish this as a 4 -inch neighborhood and repair <br />the sidewalks at 4 inches ifthey break. Halverson, their contractor, tells him to put a 6.;.inch <br />sidewalk next to a 4-inch sidewalk could even cause more problems for the adjacent pieces. <br />Royal Oaks Realty would repair the sidewalks that are broken and carry the guarantee for another <br />year. He stated they should work together to get this fixed. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec inquired about Royal Oaks Realty's engineering specifications. <br /> <br />Dave Putnam, Engineer representing Royal Oaks Realty, stated the specifications that were used <br />for The Ponds of Ramsey were the City specifications that they inserted into their book. There is <br />a statement that sidewalks through residential driveways are at 6 inches, and sidewalks through <br />commercial driveways are at 8 inches. The standard detailing the street section of sidewalk <br />indicates a 4-inch sidewalk. It wasan oversight that the 6-inch sidewalk was not incorporated <br /> <br />Public Works Committee/May 17,2005 <br />Page 7 of 12 <br />