Agenda - 09-19-2000-9g - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 On April 19, 2000, the Council received a petition from County Commission Chair Moses Carey, Jr. requesting that the Town fund improvements to the public right -of -way in front of the Skills Development Center during the 2000 -2001 fiscal year. A copy of this petition is attached (Attachment #2). DISCUSSION Construction Planning Completion of final construction plans, including recommended Streetscape revisions and showing how the improvements in the public right -of -way will be integrated with the proposed landscaped area have yet to be developed. This is a necessary next step that will be improved by coordination between the Town 'staff and the County's consultant hired to design the landscaped area. It is possible that the Town staff could provide all of the necessary design services for work within the public right -of -way, but we recommend that the design work be closely coordinated with the County's planning if possible. We believe that it may be more efficient to design the anticipated Streetscape improvements first, and then, as necessary adjust the proposed landscape improvements rather than design the Streetscape improvements in response to the current landscape plans. The Town, staff could initiate this Streetscape design work during the current fiscal year. ' Construction Funding The project area is approximately 175 feet in length. We recommend right -of -way improvements including new curb and gutter, a new driveway apron, an underground conduit bank for utilities, a new 8' wide concrete sidewalk, and low brick planter walls along the right -of -way similar to the new walls in front of the Chapel Hill Newspaper Building. A preliminary materials cost estimate for this project, based Ion recent Streetscape projects utilizing Town labor, is approximately $20,000. If this work is contracted privately, we anticipate that the cost would be approximately $60,000. If constructed by the Town, the Public Works employees who would be responsible for constructing the improvements are made up primarily of Construction Division employees. These would include two of the additional Construction Worker positions approved by the Council in FY 98 — 99 specifically to extend the amount of sidewalk and Streetscape construction the staff can complete each year. If labor and fringe benefits costs for the existing Construction Division positions is considered for purposes of comparison with the privately contracted cost estimate, approximately $32,700 could be added to the $20,000 materials cost for a total estimated Town investment of $52,700. Because this additional $32,700 labor - related cost is already budgeted in the General Fund and would not need to be, allocated from available Streetscape funds, Resolution B which utilizes Town labor, authorizes only $20,000 for the necessary construction materials. The Town currently has approximately $424,000 in available bond funding for Streetscape improvements. We anticipate that approximately $75,000 will be expended this summer during construction of approximately 400 feet of improvements on the north side of the 1000 block of East Franklin Street, leaving a balance of about $349,000. A portion of this money could be made available to fund the proposed improvements, either by Town labor or private contract. The remaining balance