MEMO 08-32

To: Homer City Council

From: Homer Transportation Advisory Committee

Re: Revisions to the City of Homer Design Criteria Manual

for Streets and Storm Drainage for Rural Roads

Date: March 4, 2008

Dear Council Members:

The Homer Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) has assigned me the task of summarizing our recommendations for revisions to the current City of Homer design standards for roads. The changes we are recommending should greatly improve the Public Works Director’s ability to minimize slope impacts, allow for better access to property adjoining rights-of-way and facilitate the utility companies’ ability to provide service within the fifteen feet adjoining the rights-of-way.

Since the first road design standards were developed there have been no revisions. The current design standards address both urban and rural roads and classify rural roads as having a daily traffic count of less than 450. In practice, our design standards for rural roads are lumped together with the design criteria for urban roads in such a way that it makes the rural roads essentially urban roads with ditches instead of curb, gutter and sidewalks. The critical design elements that allow for minimizing slope impact and an overall better fit fall under the urban standards.

We have heard testimony at our meetings that revising the design standards for rural roads will make it easier for the areas along the toe of the bluff to be developed. Our committee has no authority to make recommendations on land use within the City. Those are planning issues. We are simply responding to the development issues that are coming before the Public Works Department. Current City law allows for development of subdivisions. Developers will follow the guidelines they are given by the Public Works Department with regard to roads. Our committee has found that our Public Works Department would benefit by refining the geometric criteria associated with road design requirements.

TAC considered the different areas of concern that arise during a Public Works Department project review. The Public Works Department will ultimately own the improvements within the rights-of-way and will be responsible for their maintenance. This includes the cut and fill slopes adjoining the roadway. The property owners adjoining the rights-of-way need the best possible access from the edge of the road to their home sites. They also need water and sewer services, which ideally will be stubbed out to the property lines at a depth sufficient to facilitate their functional use. The utility companies want to utilize the fifteen feet adjoining the rights-of-way to provide service. They have a host of problems associated with providing service in “back-country” or “off-road” easements. Fencing and planting can make it difficult for utilities to maintain or upgrade their facilities within “off-road” easements.

To address the above concerns, TAC explored which design criteria could be revised to make it possible for all of the affected parties within a development to achieve a good balance of benefit and practicality. We found that reducing the footprint of a road construction project was the way to arrive at “best” for everyone involved. If we make it possible to more closely fit the existing topography we can minimize the slope footprint adjoining the roads. The Public Works Department will have more maintainable slopes, the property owners will have better access and better water and sewer services, and the utility companies will have use of the easements adjacent to the roadways. These considerations are balanced with the safety of the public and the Public Works Department’s need to maintain the roads with large equipment.

After numerous meetings beginning last fall, the Homer Transportation Advisory Committee has forwarded these recommendations by unanimous consent to the Homer City Council in the form of the proposed ordinance before you. We have given careful consideration to both the practical and mathematical issues and we feel that the ordinance before you achieves a proper balance between maintenance, safety and accessibility. We encourage members of the Council to support our recommendations.

Stephen C. Smith, P.L.S.