Agenda - Council - 03/09/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE SUNWOOD DRIVE UTILITY CONDUIT By: Leonard Linton, Civil Engineer II Thc C',ty }l~'z I'~'ceivcd a request to install 6" PVC utility conduit along both sides of Sunwood I)t-iv~,'~ tl~rough Ramsey Town Center. Hakanson Anderson is preparing the ,State/~i(l l~l~n'.~ Ibr Sunwood Drive and was asked to prepare a cost estimate. StalT I,~; ,c,.'it~,ve¢t the estimate and evaluated the potential value of these conduits. The premise .r,)t. i~l.'mlli~g thc conduits is reduced excavation in the right of way. This conduit would tz;~t % ciq~er ttnderground electric or telephone and cable but not both. Electrical lines c:~m~I I~¢_ in the samc conduit as other cables. The initial review of the idea is positix, tz, tltt: pt;tcntial For not digging up the right of way is appealing. Further review is not so p{,.,;itivc, qfc cost for these conduits is $94,000, with an additional $17,250 to add a 3" cond~tii ~_,~ thc same trench. This would allow for installation of telephone/cable and clcclri<;;~! lit~(;:; in conduit. Manholes are planned at a maximum 400 foot spacing and at street r;~-< ,s:.~;i ~g:;. Excavations will have to be made between manholes to facilitate commt:tiCm !~ the individual buildings. Pre-planning the service locations and installing a tnan}lolc: ;It .'~'~t¢~ h location is not feasible. Building design and layout governs where the opti m;~l .~;(,~'xq t:~' locations arc inevitably pre-placed service locations need to be moved. q'hc c i'~ y c o l~l d ti sc ttte conduits for its own purposes if it had a street light utility or wanted i,) i~t~t~zonncct traffic signals. Presently the only traffic signal in Ramsey Town Center i:. ?..¢:,in~.~, in at Sunwood and Rhinestone. The city does not have a mechanism in place to ~'~:c,~vc'r its costs if private utilities were allowed to use the conduits. Setting up the code l~t~q:t::g-;at'y to allow the city to charge for the use of the conduit would take time and add i~,t[t] legal counsel expense. Small q~}ci,:l g~'r,um_t utilities make extensive use of directional drilling with minimal disrttl)i i{~ oi'i}~c: right of way. The pits used for accessing the directionally drilled uti litics ;~, ;tb.~)ut the same size as excavations necessary to access the conduit and dirccti,nmi ~l~illing costs are strictly the utility company's responsibility. The city does not ha,./c t~,, in~ ~n ed iate need for conduit in the right of way. Installation of the conduit would pt c, vid(: at tYec benefil to the small utilities since a cost recovery mechanism is not in place.: i(~ a~//o,.v th~ city to charge for this benefit. Stal'/'rCx:o~t~i ,c~l<ts against proceeding with the installation of conduit on both sides of Sl.lttWO~)e[ rh-i xq ill conjunction with the construction of the State Aid Project.