Bainbridge Rd Issues

This document is to summarize statements made at the October 5th Public Works meeting. While progress on Bainbridge Rd looks good, and recognizing that the city is exercising some influence over this project, HOWEVER there are serious issues still falling through the cracks that need immediate attention. 1. Phase 1 (SOM to Liberty) was originally scheduled for completion last year, then the schedule was revised for Phase 1 West (SOM to Huntington) to complete last year. The county leased Phase 1 property (temporary take eminent domain) for only 2 years which started with Utility work in July 2009, and is currently expired. Phase 1 West revised completion was Spring 2011, it is overdue NOW, missing its second completion target. 2. Driveways were to start over 4 months ago, long after concrete aprons were done, a few asphalt drives near city hall were completed, the rest only received a base coat and still have sand on the drive apron awaiting the final course. No target for completion has been made. 3. Restoration was to be competed to Huntington, but was delayed by underground utility relocation that was to be done 2 years ago. Six weeks ago, the concrete work was started and the restoration was to be done 2 weeks later. No target for completion has been made. 4. Property was to be restored to a condition just like it was before the project. A) A few inches of top soil was spread over the top of gravel road bed material which can barely support grass and stones are surfacing on slopes. Residents didn't have road bed material in their tree lawns before this project. B) Mail box installations have had difficulty digging holes in the tree lawn road bed material and have cut off any concrete base and more to fit in shallower holes so they will have a higher chance of falling over, a few already have. The service director recommended 3 ft holes for mailboxes. C) Residents with damaged driveway lighting, sprinkler systems and invisible fencing are told that it isn't the contractor's responsibility and are taking on the restoration themselves. D) There are 3 trees removed in the grading on the south side for the last six weeks, when will this material be removed. E) Several months ago Councilman Kraus noted that Phase 2 drive aprons were steep because the final course was not in. In Phase 1, the contractor had placed 2x4s as a temp bridge and then temp asphalt. That problem still remains, while the final course is scheduled in a few weeks, 2x4 bridges would still provide some relief. 5. Responsibility still rests inappropriately on the homeowner. When a resident raises an issue, they are told by the city that it is a county project, when they contact the county supervisor they are told that it is the contractor's responsibility (missing the point that the county supervisor is being asked to direct the contractor to a solution) and in the end residents are doing their own work on this $12M project. Residents are raking gravel from their tree lawns, grading deep ruts next to their drives, installing mail boxes, fixing property damage by the project (4C) and even reseeding grass where the county planted weeds.

6. Communication is still poor. Councilman Mooney suggested the Service Dept give 3 days notice for leaf pickup so leaves wouldn't kill tree lawns. This is in ironic sharp contrast to Bainbridge Rd (which will now be in his ward) where there are rock tree lawns with no notice of when things will be done. A) Notices are sometimes given generally and so far in advance (weeks or months) as to be useless. Paper notices in doors are useful a day or two in advance, knocking on a door at 7:30 to tell someone they are now blocked in and will be late to work is unacceptable. B) Many times important issues like mailbox re-installation are not mentioned at all by notice or even in status reports. C) Many times status reports are simply a repeat of the previous week and don't warn people of work that will impact them. D) The last Twitter update was one month ago. Important things have happened in the last month. 7. Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) is still often non-existent creating serious safety dangers for motorists. When one truck or construction vehicle is working in a zone of less than a 100 ft people may be able to pass with caution, but often work zones are hundreds of feet and sometimes near an intersection (adding risk) with no method of MOT. Sometimes workers are waving people through from their equipment or while walking across the road, rarely when a flag is used it will be waved in both directions leaving the motorist confused on what they should do. While the city has properly exerted influence on this project, the job is not done. The problems above, especially the full completion of Phase 1 (West and East) this month must be addressed. Steps to mitigate gravel drives to the south wintering over in Phase 2 must also be addressed.