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Tim Gladhill <br />Community Development Director <br />City of Ramsey <br />Mr. Gladhill, <br />July 24th 2018 <br />I'm writing to address the city policy regarding the spreading of black dirt on new construction lots at <br />the time of construction. <br />The current policy requires homebuilders to place four inches of D.O.T. certified black dirt on all sodded <br />areas of the lot. We understand that this certified dirt is an attempt to reduce irrigation need/usage and <br />ultimately decrease water consumption in the city. <br />The builders are experiencing two negative effects of this policy: <br />1. The certified black dirt does hold more water, in fact it holds water like a sponge, and the <br />residents often call us to complain about spongey or highly saturated areas of their yard that <br />never dry out. We've experienced problems especially in drainage swales and lower elevation <br />areas of yards remaining wet most of the time. <br />2. The cost of the certified black dirt is $425 per load versus $250 per load for regular black dirt <br />that we use in all the other communities we build in. The typical lot uses approximately 8-10 <br />loads of dirt at $1400-$1750 more per yard than what it costs in other communities. <br />The reason for the saturated, soggy lots is that people run their sprinkler systems too much. They <br />typically set them to keep their lawn green in the driest, hottest months but they don't adjust for cooler <br />days, or upcoming rain. <br />We would like to propose an alternative that we feel will be more affective at reducing water <br />consumption, provide a better quality yard for the resident, at a lower cost for us and ultimately the <br />resident. <br />Capstone Homes would like to propose that as an acceptable alternative in lieu of the current certified <br />black dirt requirement that the builder provide an in -ground sprinkler system equipped with a Wi-Fi <br />smart control system and four inches of regular black dirt on the entire sodded area of the lot. Enclosed <br />is a brochure for an example of this product. The product would be installed during construction of the <br />house, and the customer would be educated at the time of final walk through. Capstone homes will do <br />