Sidewalk Special Assessment

ESTABLISHING CONTEXT

BACKGROUND

A. Board Action and Other History

Cass Place and Gladstone Way are minor local streets that provide a connection between Topeka Drive and Brewster Drive. The streets carry less than 500 Average Daily Trips (ADT). Cass Place and Gladstone Way have curbs and gutters but no sidewalks. Parking is permitted on both sides of the street, leaving the roadway to be shared by bicyclists, pedestrians, users with mobility devices, and automobiles.

Adding a sidewalk Cass Place and Gladstone Way has a long history of support. The Public Works Board has had these sidewalk improvements schedule since 1997. The specific project was identified in the Public Works Board documents for completion by 1998 and the Lake Mills Transportation Plan (2005) also supports installation of this sidewalk as consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. This project was added to the 2006 City Capital Improvement Program (CIP). In 2009 the project was delayed for a year to incorporate Ferry Drive improvements. For more information on the financial implications of this project, please see the Capital Improvement Plan.

The Council adopted a new policy in 2002 that established a special assessment for public improvements to include construction of concrete curb and gutter, bituminous paving, boulevard restoration and sidewalk. The assessment is intended to be charged against all properties where public improvements do not currently exist at the time of the improvement.

The Design Concept for the sidewalk is conceptual to date with public input planned over the next three (3) months. Public outreach began in November 2012 with letters to impacted property owners providing them with information on the special assessment process and inviting them to the December Public Works Board meeting to comment on the plans. In January 2013, all property owners and residents adjacent to the project limits will be contacted again regarding the Final Resolution on the special assessment. Staff will be available to meet in residents’ homes, at the city building or via the phone to discuss the project and voice their concerns regarding issues with concept for design prior to passage of the Final Resolution approving the Cass Place and Gladstone Way Sidewalk Design.

Design options will be developed and refined in January and February 2013. On February 19, 2013, the City Council will hold the final public hearing on the project to receive community input on the special assessment. Based on feedback, the design options will be further refined and the Design Concept finalized and the Council will vote on the Final Resolution.

B. Policy Issues

The Lake Mills Comprehensive Plan lists goals, objectives and policies relevant to this action:

Land Use Goal: Objective 4, page 73 - Create an interconnected network of sidewalks, bicycle trails, and streets that provide a range of transportation options to City residents.

Land Use Goal-Single Family Residential: Objective 9, page 76 - Continue to require local streets with not more than 32 feet of width measured curb face to curb face (possibly less on short local streets where parking on one side is deemed sufficient) and sidewalks on both sides of all streets within residential neighborhoods. This increases the safety of neighborhoods for pedestrians and children.

Land Use Goal-Single Family Residential: Objective 11, page 77 - Continue to locate single family residences near community facilities such as roads, paths, parks, sidewalks, schools, churches, and neighborhood scale businesses in order to provide convenient access to residential areas.

Transportation Goal: Policy 2, page 100 - The City will work to implement the 2005 City of Lake Mills Bicycle Plan and 2005 City of Lake Mills Sidewalk Plan to ensure safe and efficient routes for these modes of travel.

Transportation Goal: Policy 5, page 100 - The City will require sidewalk or pedestrian trails at appropriate locations within and between all new developments in the City.

Transportation Goal: Public Right of Way Program, page 101 - Existing City ordinance requirements include street widths appropriate for residential areas, landscape terraces, sidewalks, and street trees.

Transportation Goal: Local Streets and Sidewalks Program, page 103 - The emphasis on areas served by local streets should be on fostering a safe, livable, and walkable environment for residents; with motor vehicle access as an important but subordinate consideration.

Transportation Goal: Local Streets and Sidewalks Program, page 103 - The City has adopted a plan for retrofitting older streets and neighborhoods with sidewalks, particularly where traffic has reached levels not anticipated when the development occurred.

The Lake Mills Transportation Plan lists goals, objectives and policies relevant to this action:

Recommended Improvements: page 1-7 – East Lakeland Heights Subdivision should have a multiuse trail extended to Stony Road west from Topeka Drive and construct sidewalk on at least one side of Brewster Drive. Construct sidewalk within the remainder of the neighborhood when practical.

Prioritization: page 1-8 - Second-tier improvements address emerging safety concerns, provide access to public facilities and higher-density developments, and eliminate gaps that disrupt citywide mobility. The East Lakeland Heights Subdivision was in the second tier and is being completed with a street project on a when and where basis. The East Lakeland Heights Subdivision is the last subdivision in the City to have the sidewalks completed.

D. Financial and/or Resource Considerations

The City of Lake Mills has been special assessing the placing of new sidewalk improvements in the developed portions of the City since the Council passed Resolution 91-5. The Public Works Board developed a sidewalk Master Plan that was adopted by the City Council in 1997. The Council modified the Special Assessment Policy in 2002 and assigned sidewalk projects of this tier to be constructed as part of a street project. The East Lakeland Heights projects were added to the 2006 City Capital Improvement Program (CIP), Cass Place and Gladstone Way Sidewalk Design Concepts are being explored and input from the public is being sought. City staff is being used to offset construction costs consistent with the 2012 project. Several costs are also not included in the special assessment, such as, excavation and seeding; retaining walls; approaches and aprons; and tree removal. This reduces the cost of the improvements of the project to be assessed adjacent property owners.

Lake Mills, like other cities, has maintained its long term reliance on special assessments as a revenue source, in recognition of the spectrum of government activities that provides specific benefits to identifiable residents.  Each special assessment needs to be reviewed regularly for its appropriateness, its relationship to cost of services, and its effect on access and equity.  There is an elusive and shifting balance between tax financing and special assessments that must be constantly fine-tuned in order to reflect the goals of adequacy, equity, and efficiency in paying for public services.

The Wisconsin Statutes prescribe the procedures which cities must follow to specially assess property for local improvements. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, discussing special assessment procedures, has stated that "[t]he power of a municipality to levy an assessment against a private owner is one which exists by right of statute, and the restrictions of the statute must be met if the assessment is to be deemed valid." Elaborating on this point, the court has further declared that "[a] special assessment, to be valid, must be levied pursuant to and in strict compliance with the statutory powers of a municipality." Municipal statutory powers to impose special assessments include both the complete procedure set forth in §66.0703 of the Wisconsin Statutes (hereafter "Stats.") and the power to adopt an ordinance setting forth a local special assessment procedure under §66.0701, Stats. Chief among the requisite procedures are notice and hearing. Failure to comply with mandated procedures may result in the voidance of the special assessment.

E. Analysis

The proposed design will provide for the construction of a continuous sidewalk on the both sides of Cass Place and Gladstone Way from Topeka Drive to Brewster Drive. The proposed design also includes improvements to address safe crossing at intersections within the project limits.

As proposed, the design meets the standards of the City Code (11-5A-7-H). The area is urban residential with ADTs of less than 500 which requires the thirty-four (34) feet back of curb to back of curb minor residential street design. The right of way width is sixty-six (66) feet and the sidewalks will be one (1) foot off the property line. The sidewalk standard is four (4) feet wide and with the minor residential street design the roadway width back of curb to back of curb is thirty-four (34) feet and the terrace is than eleven (11) feet wide. The property owner will have to work with city staff if any deviation from the sidewalk standard of one (1) foot off the property line is needed.

In general, allowable tree removals shall be those trees which are necessary to remove for street construction within the right-of-way or easement areas. Actual allowable tree removals will be determined in the field by the City Consulting Engineer. All trees and brush outside the right-of-way or easement areas shall be protected by the Contractor, unless otherwise allowed by the Engineer. Occasionally, trees are on private property next to the property line - the Engineer will work with the property owner to determine whether the tree can be removed, or a slight adjustment to sidewalk distance or a retaining wall is necessary.

Concrete sidewalk and driveway construction required for the street work construction is placed using forms or machines to the dimensions and thicknesses shown. Where details are not provided match existing, but sidewalks shall be no less than 4 inches thick and driveways shall be no less than 6 inches thick. The subgrade shall be thoroughly compacted and finished to a trim, firm surface. All soft or unsuitable material shall be removed and replaced with suitable material.

A minimum 4-inch-thick layer of sand, sand and gravel, or base course shall be placed under all sidewalks and driveways. This material shall be thoroughly moistened and compacted before the concrete is placed.

Where forms are used, they shall be of metal or wood and shall be of sufficient strength to resist distortion or displacement. They shall be full depth of the Work and shall be securely staked to hold the required line and grade. Where machines are used, concrete mixture shall be controlled to prevent distortion from sloughing.

Concrete sidewalk shall be segmented into generally 5-foot-long rectangular blocks with tooled joints. Concrete driveways shall be segmented into uniform rectangular blocks with tooled joints. The joint must extend at least 1/5 of the total thickness of concrete. The edges of the sidewalk along forms and joints shall be rounded with an edging tool of 1/4-inch radius. All joints shall be at right angles to the centerline of the sidewalk.

A 3/4-inch-thick expansion joint filler shall be placed at sidewalk-driveway intersections, at sidewalk-sidewalk intersections, at the intersection with new or existing curb and gutter, around all castings, and at maximum 50-foot intervals in sidewalks.

Sidewalk cross slope shall be 1/4-inch per foot unless otherwise noted in the Drawings or requested by ENGINEER. Handicap ramps shall have a maximum slope of 1:12 and be provided with an impressed truncated dome patterned surface meeting ADA requirements.

All concrete shall conform to the requirements as called for in Section 501 of the WISDOT Specifications, unless otherwise specified. All concrete shall be normal set air-entrained concrete with water reducing agent, Grade A-WR with Type IA cement capable of producing a minimum compressive strength of 3,000 psi in ten days.

As soon after finishing operations as the free water has disappeared, the concrete surface shall be sealed by spraying on it a uniform coating of curing material to provide a continuous water impermeable film on the entire concrete surface.

Liquid curing compounds shall conform to the requirements of AASHTO Designation M148, Type 2, White Pigmented.

The material shall be applied to form a uniform coverage at the rate of not less than 1/2 gallon per 100 square feet of surface area.

Within 30 minutes after the forms have been removed, the edges of the concrete shall be coated with the curing compound, applied at the same rate as on the finished surface.

F. Alternatives/Options

1. Move approval of the proposed Special Assessment Project.

2. Deny the Special Assessment Project and/or direct staff otherwise

IV. TIMING/IMPLEMENTATION

If the Board approves the Design Concept for the Cass Place and Gladstone Way Sidewalk Project, staff would begin all necessary planning and engineering actions to prepare plans and specifications for the City Council Public Hearing on the Final Special Assessment Resolution at their February 19, 2013 meeting.

V.

RECOMMENTATION

The project is consistent with the history of approved Public Works Board sidewalk projects. The project is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Plan policies of the City Council. The project has been planned for completion as early as 1996 and has been on the Capital Improvement Plan for six years.

Based on the history and policies of the City regarding sidewalk installation, I recommend the Board approve the project.