To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Daniel Sailer, PE, Director, Public Works
Keith Johnston, PLS, Development Manager, Public Works
Title
Ordinance Amending Various Provisions in Chapter 12.04 of the Castle Rock Municipal Code (Second Reading - Approved on First Reading on February 15, 2022, by a vote 7-0) [Pavement Excavations for Utility Services]
Body
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Executive Summary
The Public Works Department has developed a process for determining appropriate fees to be assessed when utility work requires excavating within a public street. The current fees were established in Title 12 of the Municipal Code and were adopted in 1982. The proposed code amendment will allow the fees for utility excavations to be set administratively by the Town Manager. This will ensure the fees are consistent with the value the community places on striving to provide infrastructure at the lowest lifecycle cost, and adjusted as market conditions change.
The proposed code amendment also addresses the following:
• Town’s ability to perform the repairs and invoice the responsible party, in the event responsible party fails to repair the street properly.
• Town’s ability to require milling and overlay of a street if a project requires multiple street excavations in close proximity.
• Exceptions to the proposed fee.
Additional requirements for excavating streets that are less than three (3) years old.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Town Staff electronically mailed the proposed fee system and revisions to code to approximately 650 stakeholders of the Town, consisting of developers, engineering consultants, and homeowners. Douglas County, neighboring jurisdictions and asphalt industry professionals were also sent the notification.
The review period for providing comments concluded January 19, 2022. Town staff received 3 responses, listed below:
1) Request to clarify the exemption for homeowner sewer repair.
2) Observation that a set fee (instead of a fee based on remaining pavement life) would be better for contractors to use when creating bid proposals.
3) Comment concurring with proposed method & question if the fee could be determined during the plan review process. Answer: The fee can be determined during plan review but the most accurate information will be available during construction. Therefore, staff intends to determine and charge the fee as part of the Right-of-Way permitting process for the pavement excavation.
Town Staff has also mailed the proposed fee system and revisions to the Economic Development Council for their review and distribution to their members. Castle Rock Water was also presented this proposal and are supportive of the logical approach.
Discussion
As the Town is developed, the occurrence of pavement excavations for sanitary, water, stormwater, and dry utility infrastructure is inherently required to support Town approved projects. Pavement excavations are also required for maintaining the various utility systems.
When the pavement is cut and excavated, the immediate result is a reduction of the overall service life of the pavement. Public Works strives to meet the community’s value in managing the Town’s pavement assets to the lowest total life cycle cost. Reductions in service life equates to additional financial burden to the public for the costly rehabilitation and maintenance work by the Town to maintain prematurely degraded pavements. Municipalities are allowed to recover the costs they incur as a result of excavation within public streets. The goal of this fee is not intended to be punitive in nature, but to accurately cover the cost of additional maintenance expenditures as a result of a reduction in pavement life that would be borne by the public. As such, this fee update should be tied directly to a pavement’s total lifecycle cost.
This proposed fee only replaces the current pavement excavation fee. All other fees currently required for Town Right-of-Way permits i.e. inspections, traffic control review, etc. will remain in place. The new fee will be reviewed and adjusted annually to maintain consistency with the lowest total life cycle cost for the pavement, which fluctuates based on market conditions.
Current fees:
• Per Current Municipal Code 12.04.020: The fee for a lateral sewer or water pavement cut that is 60 feet or less is $350.00. If the cut is greater than 60 feet, an additional charge of $4.00 per foot is required. These fees do not vary relative to the remaining service life of the pavement.
• Per the Town’s Fee Schedule for Right-of-Way Permitting: The fee for a pavement excavation is $8.00 per square foot. The $8.00 per square foot does not vary relative to the remaining service life of the pavement.
Proposed method for determining proposed fee:
Town staff currently uses the strategic asset management software “Cartegraph” as a management tool for tracking and planning maintenance to be performed on public streets. Street segments are inspected and deficiencies are listed for each street. The Cartegraph software outputs the overall condition of the pavement based on the list of deficiencies. The overall condition converted to a numerical term is called the OCI or Overall Condition Index. A new pavement excavation is a deficiency and will result in a reduction in the OCI of the street. Each reduction in OCI results in a reduction in the service life of the pavement. The Town plans for each new, or reconstructed pavement to have a total service life of 40 years before it needs to be reconstructed. When a pavement segment is cut and excavated, it is no longer expected to last the full 40 years. The value of the lost service life of the street, due to the excavation, is the proposed fee for a street pavement excavation.
Proposed Fee:
A public street pavement currently costs the Town approximately $14 per square foot to maintain for 40 years. This is the lowest total life cycle cost per square foot. This cost includes the initial construction/reconstruction, and all recommended maintenance treatments over the 40-year period. The following reconstruction cost would fall into the next 40-year lifecycle such that only one reconstruction cost is covered in a single life cycle. As an illustrative example: If a pavement excavation reduces the life of a street segment by 1 year, the fee for the pavement excavation is 1/40th of the total life cycle cost for that pavement segment.
Example:
• A new building must excavate a street to connect to the Town’s sewer main.
• The affected pavement segment (2,500 square feet in area) is expected to cost the Town $35,500 to maintain over the 40-year life cycle of the pavement.
• The excavation is 10’ long and 5’ wide or 50 Square Feet.
• Based on Cartegraph, the cut and excavation will reduce the service life of this 2,500 square foot street segment by 5.5%
• 5.5% of $35,500 = $1,952
• If the street is new (with potential to last 40 years), the proposed fee is $1,952
• If the street is midway thru life cycle and has 20 years remaining, the proposed fee is $976
• In all cases, the fee will be calculated based on remaining service life of the street.
Fee Comparisons: (10’ x 5’ Pavement Excavation on New Street)
The current proposed fee is logically developed based on the reduction in total lifecycle cost. While it’s difficult to compare these to other jurisdictions without knowing the logic behind their fee development, we do want to provide some comparisons.
• Town of Castle Rock (Current):
o Per Municipal Code: $350
o Per Town Fee Schedule: $8 per square foot = $400
o Note: The age of street is not a factor for current fee.
o Note: The fee is based on the paving cost of the street repair.
• Town of Castle Rock (Proposed):
o $1,952 (New or Reconstructed Street with 40 years of service remaining)
o $976 (Example Street with 20 years of service life remaining)
o Price decreases incrementally as street ages ranging from 40-0 years
• Town of Parker:
o $2,500 (Streets < 5years old)
o $250 (Streets > 5 years old)
• Centennial, Co:
o $2,300 (Streets < 2years old: Mill and Overlay required)
o $385 (Streets > 2 years old)
• Lone Tree, CO:
o $2,300 (Streets < 2years old: Mill and Overlay required)
o $250 (Streets > 2 years old)
• Douglas County:
o $2,300 (Streets < 5years old: Mill and Overlay required)
o $250 (Streets > 5 years old)
• Lakewood, CO:
o $2,300 (Streets < 4 years old: Mill and Overlay required)
o $250 (Streets > 4 years old)
• Chicago, IL: (comparison to a major US city for additional reference)
o $5,000 (Streets < 2 years old)
o $2,500 (Streets > 2 years old and < 5 years old)
o No Degradation Fee (Streets > 5 years old)
Multiple Pavement Excavations in a Street Segment:
The proposed code amendment allows the Town to require the pavement to be milled and overlaid when a project requires multiple pavement excavations (exceeding 250 square feet of total area) within a 500’ street segment. If the pavement has 5 years or less of service life remaining, a mill and overlay will not be required, however pavement degradation fees will apply.
New Streets:
Proposed excavations on pavements less than 3 years old (including reconstructed pavements) require approval by the Public Works Director. Street excavation permits may be denied by the Town or require additional restoration work, fees and/or surety as determined on a case-by-case basis. Emergency repair of existing facilities are excluded from this restriction.
Budget Impact
The proposed system utilizes existing Town software for determining the proposed fee. There is no additional expense for the Town. The new system will generate additional fees that will be utilized for the Town’s existing Pavement Maintenance Program.
Staff Recommendation
Staff is presenting this item to the Public Works Commission on February 7, 2022. Staff will provide the results of the Commission meeting to Council during the presentation to Council.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Ordinance as introduced by title on second reading.”
Alternative motions:
“I move to approve the ordinance as introduced by title, with the following conditions: (list conditions)”
“I move to continue this item to the Town Council meeting on (date) to allow additional time to (list information needed)”
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance