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<br />Case #3: <br /> <br />Consider Establishing Vision Clearance Triangle into City Code <br /> <br />Item was tabled. <br /> <br />Case #4: <br /> <br />Sunwood Drive Conduits <br /> <br />Assistant Director of Public Works Olson stated that the City has received a request to install 6" <br />PVC utility conduit along both sides of Sunwood Drive through Ramsey Town Center. <br />Hakanson Anderson is preparing the State Aid plans for Sunwood Drive and was asked to <br />prepare a cost estimate. Staff has reviewed the estimate and evaluated the potential value of <br />these conduits. The premise for installing the conduits is reduced excavation in the right of way. <br />This conduit would carry either underground electric or telephone and cable but not both. <br />Electrical lines cannot be in the same conduit as other cables. The initial review of the idea was <br />positive, the potential, for not digging up the right of way is appealing. Further review is not so <br />positive. The cost for these conduits is $94,000, with an additional $17,250 to add a 3" conduit <br />to the same trench. This would allow for installation of telephone/cable and electrical lines in <br />conduit. Manholes are planned at a maximum 400-foot spacing and at street crossings. <br />Excavations will have to be made between manholes to facilitate connection to the individual <br />buildings. Pre-planning the service locations and installing a manhole at each location is not <br />feasible. Building design and layout governs where the optimal service locations are inevitably <br />pre-placed service locations need to be moved. The City could use the conduits for its own <br />purposes if it had a street light utility or wanted to interconnect traffic signals. Presently the only <br />traffic signal in Ramsey Town Center is going in at Sunwood and Rhinestone. The City does not <br />have a mechanism in place to recover its costs if private utilities were allowed to use the <br />conduits. Setting up the code necessary to allow the City to charge for the use of the conduit <br />would take time and additional legal counsel expense. Small underground utilities make <br />extensive use of directional drilling with minimal disruption of the right of way. The pits used <br />for accessing the directionally drilled utilities are about the same size as excavations necessary to <br />access the conduit and directional drilling costs are strictly the utility company's responsibility. <br />The City does not have an immediate need for conduit in the right of way. Installation of the <br />conduit would provide a free benefit to the small utilities since a cost recovery mechanism is not <br />in place to allow the City to charge for this benefit. Staff recommended against proceeding with <br />the installation of conduit on both sides of Sunwood drive in conjunction with the construction of <br />the State Aid Project. <br /> <br />Councilmember Zimmerman inquired ifthere will be underground power in the Town Center. <br /> <br />Assistant Director of Public Works Olson replied that all the utilities will be underground. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cook stated that having the conduit installed up front and not having Sunwood <br />Drive disturbed many times does seem like a benefit. He stated that maybe they should plan on <br />installing the conduit and then have the City work on developing an ordinance to charge for the <br />use. <br /> <br />Public Works Committee/February 17,2004 <br />Page 7 of 9 <br />