Agenda - Council - 10/22/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 7. 2. Meeting Date: 10/22/2013 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Introduction of Franchise Fee Ordinances with Anoka Municipal Utility, CenterPoint Energy and Connexus Energy Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to consider the introduction of three draft franchise fee ordinances, one each with Anoka Municipal Utility (Ordinance #13-21), CenterPoint Energy (Ordinance #13-22), and Connexus Energy (Ordinance #13-23). If Council supports the draft franchise fee ordinances as introduced, or if minor revisions are requested, a second reading and the franchise fee ordinances may be called for the November 12th City Council meeting. After the second reading, Council may adopt the ordinances if no further revisions are desired. Long -Term Street Maintenance Program Benefits The City of Ramsey currently maintains over 174 miles of city streets, with the oldest being constructed in 1974. During the 10 year period between 1976 and 1985, over 45% of city streets were constructed. The life expectancy of streets constructed over sandy, well -drained subgrade soils, such as are found in the Anoka sand plain which Ramsey is located in, and that receive regularly scheduled pavement maintenance projects, is approximately 60 years. Conversely, if no pavement maintenance projects are completed over the life of a street, the life expectancy is typically less than 30 years. To date, city streets in Ramsey have primarily received pavement maintenance projects on a reactive or "as -budgeted" basis in which as many miles of pavement as the annual budget allowed were either crack sealed, sealcoated and/or overlaid. Unfortunately, not all streets that needed pavement maintenance projects any given year received any. This has resulted in pavement sections deteriorating faster than they would have if they had received regular pavement maintenance projects at the appropriate time. Since most city streets have not received regular pavement maintenance projects, the useable life of most existing city streets lies somewhere between 30 and 60 years of age. As part of the city's current street maintenance program, city staff annually rates and evaluates the pavement condition of all city streets, and has done this for many years now. Staff uses the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system to assign a rating from 1 to 10 to all city streets. Based on the overall mileage of streets, about 23.5% of city streets currently have a PASER rating between 0 and 6, whereas 76.5% are rated between 7 and 10. Therefore, the majority of city streets currently have an average PASER rating of 6.5 or better, which is one of the identified goals of the recently adopted Strategic Action Plan. However, when considering that over 45% of city streets are 30 to 40 years old, and considering the age and PASER ratings of all other city streets, it is apparent that a long-term street maintenance program is needed to maximize the remaining life of all city streets to avoid the need to reconstruct almost half of the streets over a roughly 10 year period, placing a seemingly unmanageable financial burden on the city and its taxpayers. By extending the useable life of all city streets, street reconstruction projects can also be extended over a longer period of time, spreading those project costs over time. Long -Term Street Maintenance Program Costs Estimated costs for a long-term street maintenance program were recently calculated using 2013 unit bid prices from projects bid in Ramsey and surrounding cities. The estimated costs assume all city streets will be maintained and reconstructed "as is" with no changes made to street components (curb and gutter, pavement material, etc.), lane widths, traffic control, or pedestrian facilities. The estimated costs also assume a life -expectancy of 60 years for all city streets based on the following staff recommended pavement maintenance project schedule. All streets would be crack sealed 3 years after initial construction, overlays, and reconstruction. Concurrent crack sealing and seal coating projects would occur in years 6, 13, 26, 33, 46, and 53. Overlay and edge milling projects would be