MEMORANDUM 09-151

TO: Walt Wrede, City Manager

FROM: Carey Meyer, Public Works Director

DATE: November 17, 2009

RE: Request for Rural Road Maintenance

Hopkins Way – Williams Place to 150 feet short of Mary Allen Avenue

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The City Council approved a policy in 2002 that establishes conditions under which the City would extend rural road maintenance to roads not currently on the road maintenance map. The property owners along Hopkins Way have made efforts this summer to meet these conditions. Below is a discussion of each of the seven conditions that must be met to initiate rural road maintenance:

Seven conditions must be met to meet rural road maintenance standards. “Rural” level of service will not be extended to an existing road until or unless:

The City Council passes a resolution authorizing the inclusion of the road on the Official Road Maintenance Map.

“Requests for expansion of road maintenance to roads that already exist shall be submitted to the Public Works Director. The request must be in writing and provide proof that the requirements listed above are met. All costs associated with bringing the roads up to standards or verifying that the above requirements have been met, are the responsibility of the property owners.”

“The Director will evaluate the request, and if in his/her opinion the road meets all of the above requirements, will recommend to the City Manager that the road section be added to the Official Road Maintenance Map. Requests made in writing that are found not to meet the above requirements will also be submitted to the City Manager. The City Manager will make his recommendations to the City Council.”

This condition will be met if the City Council passes the appropriate resolution. The Public Works Director has received a written request to expand road maintenance on Hopkins Way. The property owners have made a reasonable attempt to bring the road up to rural road standards. Public Works has inspected these improvements; the results of which are outlined below.

The dedicated right-of-way width is 60 feet wide (50’ if the road is less than 1000 feet and can never be extended), unless the Public Works Director determines that a combination of drainage/snow storage easements and dedicated right-of-way would be sufficient to allow for maintenance operations. Under no circumstances will rural maintenance be provided where a combination of dedicated right-of-way and easements is less than 50 feet wide. All dead-end roads shall have a 100-foot diameter cul-de-sac platted at the end of the road as a turn-around area or an easement at the end of the road of sufficient size and shape to allow snow removal and emergency response equipment to turnaround.

The existing right-of-way of Hopkins Way is 30 feet wide and is less than 1000 feet long. The Public Works Director has determined that a combination of drainage/snow storage easements and dedicated right-of-way would be sufficient to allow for maintenance operations. An additional 10 feet of easement has been dedicated along each side of Hopkins Way, except for one property (see attached map). This property owner has not been willing to dedicate an easement across the front of the property. This condition has been substantially, but not completely met.

Discussions with Public Works equipment operators suggests that adequate snow storage may very well be available below the property in question; some additional effort will be required to move snow to that location.

Equipment can turn around at the driveway located 150 feet below Mary Allen Place.

Where the road serves less than 10 lots, the road bed must consist of a gravel surface at least 18 feet wide (more than 10 lots, 20 feet wide). The thickness of the gravel shall be at least 18” (unless a professional engineer registered in the State of Alaska certifies that subgrade conditions, presence of stabilization fabric, or other factors are present that create a road surface capable of supporting maintenance equipment at all times of the year). The road must support maintenance equipment.

This road is less than 1000 feet and serves less than ten lots. The road is 18’ wide and it should support maintenance equipment. This condition has been met.

All required street name and stop signs are in place.

All street signs appear to be in place. This condition has been met.

At least one residence or business is served for every 300 feet of road added to the maintenance system.

This condition has been met.

Drainage has been improved to allow major drainage flows to cross the road through culverts at least 24” in diameter, and that positive drainage exists away from the road surface.

This condition has been met. The existing culvert crossing has been replaced with a 24” culvert. Road side ditching has been completed.

Maximum grade must be 10% or less; short sections (less than 150 feet) up to 15%.

This condition has been met.

Recommendations: The City Manager support and the City Council approve the extension of rural road maintenance to Hopkins Way from Williams Place to 150 feet short of Mary Allen Way, under the following conditions:

1) Rural Road maintenance be initiated for a period of one year, after which Public Works will re-evaluate conditions associated with the additional work required to deal with snow storage problems where there is no snow storage easement exists. Public Works will also evaluate adequateness of road to support maintenance equipment and identify any other problems. Council action will be required to extend maintenance permanently.