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