HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Works Committee - 09/11/2017
PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE August 21, 2017
Minutes City of Kent, WA
Summary Minutes
Date: September 11, 12017
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: Chambers East
1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by Committee
member Higgins.
2. Roll Call: Committee members, Dennis Higgins, Dana Ralph and Brenda Fincher
were present. Council member Higgins chaired the meeting.
Absent:
3. Changes to the Agenda: N/A
4. Approval of Minutes, Dated August 21, 2017
Committee member Fincher MOVED to approve the Minutes of August 21, 2017.
The motion was SECONDED by Committee member Ralph and PASSED 3 - 0.
5. WSDOT Airspace Lease – South 224th Street
Garrett Inouye, P.E., Project Engineer, spoke about the Air Space Lease with the
Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for the new bridge over SR
167.
The city will construct, own, operate, and maintain the new bridge. WSDOT owns the real
property as well as the access, light, view, and air rights for SR 167, the City will need to
sign an Airspace Lease for the construction and operation of the new bridge.
In addition to paying for all future operations and maintenance costs for the bridge
structure, the City shall also be responsible to pay for any cost to maintain or repair SR
167 if the new bridge is found to adversely affect SR 167. The City will be required to
reimburse WSDOT for regular inspection of the bridge structure; first response activities,
operations and maintenance, or environmental investigation on SR 167; and additional
security as required by WSDOT or Homeland Security.
The lease with WSDOT will be for 25 years, and may be renewed for two additional 25
year periods.
Committee member Fincher MOVED to recommend Council authorize the Mayor
to sign the WSDOT Airspace Lease to allow the City to construct, operate, own,
and maintain a bridge over SR 167 at S. 224th Street, subject to final terms and
conditions acceptable to the City Attorney and Public Works Director and was
SECONDED by Committee member Ralph. The motion PASSED 3 - 0.
6. Info Only/Construction Update
Eric Connor, Construction Manager noted that the City of Kent is experiencing a significant
amount of construction activity. Public works infrastructure is or has been constructed this
season by a combination of city crews, contractors working for the city, and private
contractors working for developers. In addition, franchise utilities including Highline Water
District (replacing water mains) and Puget Sound Energy (replacing gas mains) have been
very busy in our neighborhoods.
Connor summarized the more significant work elements across the city as follows:
53 Development Projects currently in progress
Puget Sound Energy – 3 large gas main replacements
CIP Projects Completed
- 72nd Ave S Extension
- 108th/208th Intersection Improvements
- 208th Drainage & Guardrail Improvements
- Kent Regional Trail Connector
- 1st Avenue North
- Striping and Plastic Markings
Projects Close to Completion
- 80th Ave S
- 2017 Ditch, Culvert and Large Pipe Cleaning Projects
- 2017 Asphalt Overlays
- S 212th Street and 72nd Ave S Intersection Improvements
132nd Ave SE Walkway – Work began last week
S 212th Overlay – Work to begin this week. Paving done in October
S 240th Pathway Improvements – Starting within the next couple of weeks
S 224th Phase 1 – Work to start this month
Woodford Avenue – Starting work this week
S 228th St Joint Trench Work – Starting in October
7. Info Only/Inter-fund Loan for South 224th Street
Paul Scott, Public Works Finance Manager and Kristin Lykken, Financial Analyst discussed
funding for the South 224th Street project. Scott stated that staff is proposing to use an
interfund loan from drainage to help finance this capital improvement. Loan repayment
will come from LID 363 revenues, which is part of the funding source for this project.
Scott noted that the full project cost is $22.8 million and that $3.2 million is needed to
fund construction. The loan will be repaid by LID revenues over the next 10 years.
The following Policies will be met:
Excess funds need to be available
It is not permanent
Borrowing rate is based on current banking standards
This item will go to the Operations Committee on October 18, 2017. It was further noted
that this loan doesn’t postpone any projects to be. Completed, as permitting issues have
delayed several major projects such as the Upper Mill Creek Dam.
8. Crosswalk Safety Improvements
Kelly Peterson, Transportation Manager, noted that the city has been asked to install or
revise crosswalks at two locations. The first is on 76th Ave South, south of S. 212th
Street. Employees in this area cross the street mid-block to access different buildings
owned by the same company. A video study was conducted for three consecutive days
which showed that there were four 60 minute periods with 20 or more pedestrians
crossing 76th Ave S. Peterson noted that this meets the criteria as outlined in the adopted
City Crosswalk Policy, and is consistent with criteria established by the Federal Highway
Administration.
The second location is to relocate a crosswalk on a designated school walking route to
address child pick-up issues at East Hill Elementary. Parents are currently using the Fred
Meyer parking lot to pick up students. Marked crosswalks are located to the north at
James Street and to the south at SE 242nd Place. The school provides a crossing guard at
the southern crosswalk. This project would relocate the marked crosswalk from SE 242nd
Place to be in front of the school entrance. This project requires construction of ADA
ramps, relocation of school zone flashers, removal of some on-street parking and new
pavement markings. This proposed crosswalk is consistent with the Kent Crosswalk Policy.
9. Watershed Update
Tim LaPorte, Public Works Director noted that in the past week, significant events have
occurred at both the Clark Springs watershed and the Upper Green River watershed for
our Tacoma Water Supply.
LaPorte noted that after more than a decade of discussion and controversy the
Washington State Department of Ecology has issued the Draft Consent Decree and the
Draft Cleanup Action Plan for the Landsburg Mine contaminants. Committee members may
recall that this item was brought before the full Council in a Council Workshop in January
of 2017. The city has just received the draft of these two documents. Staff will review the
next steps on this matter.
A wildfire started on 9/4/17 in the upper part of the Green River watershed called the
“Sawmill Creek Fire.” the fire has grown to 930 acres in size and is 0% contained at the
time of this report. The City of Tacoma and partners are concerned about the potential
effects on water quality in the watershed including the effects of firefighting.
Staff has been meeting with Tacoma officials and will provide a current update on the
situation to the Committee.
10. Information Only/Quiet Zone Update
Chad Bieren, Deputy Public Works Director/City Engineer noted that staff will be meeting
with the UTC this Thursday to talk about the Quiet Zone. Staff has an existing cost
estimate for improvements that need to be done at both the Burlington Northern (BN) and
Union Pacific (UP). The proposed UP agreement to improve the signal at Meeker and the
UP (estimated at $30,000). 2 million will need to be set aside to get this done. We will be
working with the UTC to see if there is anything that needs to be added or that can be
subtracted from the proposal. A funding source is still needed in order to put a final touch
on plans.
An agreement still needs to be signed with the UP and would like to push this forward.
Funds will need to be available within 9 months to a year. The total railroad work is
approximately $1.4 million.
Adjournment: At 4:56 p.m., Committee Chair Higgins declared the meeting adjourned.
Wendy Wakefield, Administrative Asst. I