The Latest on The Crain Avenue Bridge...

Posted by dave in Safe City, Services News on November 27, 2008 | No Comments

It may not be the greatest but here’s the latest from Gene Roberts regarding the repairs and prospective reopening of the Crain Avenue bridge.

EMAIL FROM GENE ROBERTS, KENT PUBLIC SERVICE DIRECTOR

“CSX has completed their temporary rail repairs today. The temporary rail “panels” installed by R J Corman Derailment Services last Friday (11/21/08) and completed Saturday morning (04:00) have been set to grade by CSX personnel around 13:00 Tuesday. The temporary rail panels are pre-assembled (rail and cross ties hauled to the site in 50-ft. sections and bolted together for emergency rail replacement. CSX will replace the temporary rail panels sometime next summer with continuous rails. The completion of the adjustment to the rails (grade setting) will allow CSX to return to normal speed on their rails.

A meeting with CSX and their environmental cleanup firm, Sunpro, was held on site today. Sunpro worked at removing the coal from the storm sewer headwall just south of the bridge. This work was done to allow storm water to drain from the east side of the rails and prevent subgrade soil saturation of the rail bed. Sunpro will be onsite all night pumping storm water around to prevent contamination (coal mixing with runoff water) from reaching the Cuyahoga River. They have advised that their schedule is to restore the storm sewer flow on the south side of the bridge by Wednesday evening.

Sunpro stated that they will need two weeks to remove the coal piled up during the emergency site repair operations. After the coal is removed the train car debris will be removed along with all the cross ties and rail that was damaged during the derailment.

The original repairs anticipated for the City’s sanitary and storm sewer can not be completed as planned. What is needed to be done to place these utilities back in service is to replace both sewers from the upper tracks to their current termination points. A 12-inch sanitary sewer will be placed under the rail using the existing 18-inch storm sewer as a casing pipe which will connect the upstream end at a manhole on the slope between the upper and lower tracks and the north end manhole on the City’s north-south interceptor sanitary sewer. Once the sanitary sewer is complete the CSX contractor will grout the area between the old storm sewer and the new sanitary sewer.

A new storm sewer will be directionally drilled through the bedrock starting north of the existing Crain Avenue bridge and west of the CSX rails at an angle to the southeast to connect to the existing storm sewer outfall located between the east bridge abutment and the sanitary sewer. CSX representatives have authorized this work at their expense.

The sanitary work will continue through Wednesday evening and then work will be suspended until Monday, December 1. Considerable discussion occurred prior to deciding to suspend work but the final determination was made based on the fact that parts would not be available until after the holiday. The simple problem is the work will be designed while it is being built and it is unknown exactly what pipe fittings and other materials or equipment will be needed to complete the connections.

Midwest Mole, CSX’s Contractor completing the sewer replacements, believe if all goes well it will take until Friday December 5, 2008 to complete the sanitary sewer repair and the following Friday December 12 to complete the storm sewer repairs.

With all the work activities planned for the next two plus weeks, the weather forecast (snow), the safety of the workers on site and equally the safety of the motoring public the bridge will not be opened until such time as all the work requiring the bridge for access is complete. Current estimate for the Crain Avenue bridge reopening is Friday December 12. The only alternative would be to open and close the bridge as needed for work progression, which is believed to become a larger problem/aggravation for our residents than the alternative of leaving the bridge closed until it can be opened without interruption.

It must be stated that the cleanup and repairs are still very dynamic and subject to change and further updates will be forthcoming as work progresses.

Thanks,
gene

There’s More To Do Than Eating on Thanksgivi...

Posted by dave in City Living, Services News on November 26, 2008 | No Comments

Don’t get me wrong I like eating turkey as much as the next guy but if you’re looking for more than just a day of gluttony on the couch, Kent’s got a couple of options for you this Thanksgiving. I can’t think of a better way of getting your day started in a thankful spirit than by participating in the 40th anniversary of the Brunch Bunch fundraiser at the American Legion Post in Kent. For 40 years the Brunch Bunch has raised funds to benefit local hot meals and food relief programs in our area, and given our tough economy the needs are greater than ever. Or if you’re more of an active sort the Kent Parks and Recreation is sponsoring the annual Turkey Trot 5k race at Plum Creek Park. It’s a way to celebrate your health and perhaps feel a little less guilt over the calories you’re likely to consume later in the day. Either way you can’t go wrong. Happy Thanksgiving.

The Brunch Bunch 40th Anniversary – Celebrating 40 years of fundraising to benefit local hot meals and food relief programs, the Brunch Bunch needs your help Thanksgiving morning, November 27th, at the American Legion Post in Kent. This annual charity auction and fundraiser, with lots of great items to bid on, will be going on from 8:00 AM to Noon, and a donation of only $3 at the door gets you endless coffee, cider, doughnuts…and out of the kitchen for awhile on Thanksgiving. Come for all morning, or for as long as you can get away. For event and item donation information, call: 330-678-3120. Don’t be a Turkey…Be at the Brunch Bunch!

Kent Parks and Recreation Turkey Trot

Status of the New Fairchild Avenue Bridge Project...

Posted by dave in Services News on November 25, 2008 | No Comments

With all the attention over the Crain Avenue bridge thanks to last week’s CSX train derailment I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the status of the bridge replacement. The City and County are in the process of replacing the Crain Avenue bridge but trust me, hitting the bridge with a train was not part of the planned demolition process. You won’t find train demo anywhere on our project Gantt charts. What you would find is completion of the preliminary engineering, wrapping up of the right of way acquistion phase and bids being prepared for advertisement this winter so that a contract could be awarded early next year to begin what will likely be a 2 year construction contract.

The design and engineering phases were substantially complete this summer (see the images here) which meant that it was time to get into the right of way acquisition phases in the fall. The project activities over the last 3-4 months have been dominated by the right of way aquisition and that has put a number of land purchases for the bridge project on City Council’s agenda.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is a County bridge located in the City limits that is relying on federal, state and local funds to be replaced which means there’s a long list of partners on this project. Ultimately, because it’s in the City, we take the lead on the local issues, like buying land from affected property owners. And although it’s a lot of work, I think it’s probably a good thing since the local government is usually in a better position to understand and work with affected property owners than an engineer sitting in Columbus or Washington DC.

That means that the property purchases get processed through City Council but that doesn’t mean that City Council foots the entire bill. We only pay our proportional share which in right of way acquisition turns out to be 10%. Yet because the purchase is required to be approved by the local agency, in this case our City Council, the process can be confusing. With that in mind our City Engineer, Jim Bowling has provided a good summary of the right of way process.

RIGHT OF WAY
SUMMARY FROM JIM BOWLING, CITY ENGINEER
In light of the recent questions regarding acquisition for public improvements utilizing Federal dollars (ie Fairchild Avenue Bridge) the following is a short synopsis of the process required by any local agency to acquire property to construct an infrastructure project.

Public Right-of-Way is the land available for public use such as roads, bridges, bikeways and utilities. This land is seen as being necessary for the public good. Once a piece of property is determined necessary to complete a federally funded infrastructure project the following is required.

Step 1 – Complete an appraisal of the property value: There are several different types of appraisals. The types vary depending on the value of the property to be acquired. More expensive properties require more work in the appraisal process to determine the value. A Summary Appraisal Report is required when acquiring a complete property (building and land). The Summary Appraisal Report looks at different approaches when determining the value for the property. These include a COST APPROACH (components of the property can be valued based on the amount they contribute to the whole property); a SALES COMPARISON APPROACH (comparable properties of similar utility and appeal are analyzed); a INCOME APPROACH (value based on income).

Step 2 – Review appraisal of the property: Once the appraisal is completed a “third party” independent appraiser is required to review the appraisal. This is required to make certain that federal money is not abused in obtaining land and that the property owners are fairly compensated for the lost property. The review helps to ensure that the fair market value estimates include all pertinent facts and that the fair market value is realistic.

Step 3 – Local agency review: Once the appraisal is completed and reviewed the Local Public Agency approves the appraisal to be offered to the owner. The local public agency can not arbitrarily change the offer. The review is performed only to verify that the appraisal correctly interpreted the proposed needs of the project.

Step 4 – Notifying the Owner: The owner is then notified of the value of their property to be acquired.

Step 5 – Negotiations: After the initial offer the owner has the right to review the appraisals and contest any appraisal by obtaining their own from a qualified appraiser. The owner may suggest a counter offer, however the Local Public Agency does not have the authority to accept any offer without approval of the State Agency overseeing the funds (ODOT). Increases in the initial offer may be determined appropriate due to errors in the appraisals, an appraisal provided by the owner or to keep from appropriating the property (ie going to court).

Step 6A – Mutual agreement on a price: All accepted offers require approvals from State Agency overseeing the funds (ODOT).

- or -

Step 6B – Appropriation: If a mutually agreeable price can not be determined the Local Public Agency must appropriate the property. The Local Public Agency deposits a check with the courts for the amount of the reviewed appraisal and the court grants the agency the right to obtain the property to complete the necessary improvements for the public good. The ensuing court case then determines the appropriate value of the property and that amount is paid to the owner.

Lastly, only ODOT pre-qualified appraisers, review appraisers, negotiators, managers and relocation assistants may mange and implement the right-of-way acquisition process. The City of Kent (and most Local Public Agencies) has no ODOT pre-qualified right-of-way personnel on staff. Therefore we are required to use outside consultants when acquiring property for a federally funded project.

As can be seen the process is overseen at every critical juncture. The Local Public Agency is the engine that moves that acquisition through the process however it has minimal say in determining the final price for any land.

JIM ON RIGHT OF WAY FUNDING
For the Fairchild Avenue Bridge Project we are receiving funds from two separate sources with 2 separate matching amounts. These are listed below:

AMATS STP Funds – 80% federal contribution with a 20% local match. Up to $1 million in federal funds available for R/W

State HSP Funds – 100% federal contribution with no local match. Up to $2.25 million available for R/W

The current estimate for R/W is $3.0 million, therefore the city’s percentage for R/W is just under 10%.

Crain Avenue Bridge Update...

Posted by dave in Safe City, Services News on November 24, 2008 | No Comments

was briefed this morning on the progress of the Crain Avenue Bridge repair following the train derailment on Friday of last week and as promised here’s the latest update. The City Public Service Director, Gene Roberts, reports that the Portage County Engineer’s (Mickey Marozzi) post train derailment bridge inspection was completed Saturday November 22, 2008 around 13:00. The bridge inspector identified some damage and movement but did not identify sufficient damage that would cause the bridge to remain closed.

Mickey has authorized the bridge to be opened upon completion of the remaining work to the City’s sanitary and storm sewers that were damaged in the incident.

At 9:00 am Saturday the City Engineer, Jim Bowling, and Gene met with representatives of the CSX & their contractor to discuss repairs of the City’s sewer facilities. Mid West Mole will be on site Monday to complete the necessary repairs to the sanitary and storm sewer. The current thoughts include using the old storm sewer as a casing pipe to reinstall the sanitary sewer and then directionally drill a new storm sewer north of the existing bridge. This work will be engineered in the field based on what is discovered as the work progresses. There is no time for completion known at this time.

The bridge will remain closed until Mid West’s work is completed as the only method to deliver equipment and material is from the bridge south side by crane.

Until the work is completed on the sanitary sewer Central Maintenance will be working around the clock monitoring the sanitary sewer flow and pumping sewage from the east side of the upper tracks (ABC) discharging over the bridge and dropping into the north-south sanitary sewer through a vertical pipe dropped over the side of the bridge.

CSX has authorized release of KPD personnel effective 14:00 hours based on the fact that anyone driving around the road closed signs and across the bridge will not cause a bridge failure.

Best guess at this point is the bridge may open sometime Wednesday based on the fact that Thursday is Thanksgiving and most folks (including Mid West Mole staff) will want to be home.

So it looks like we’ve got a couple of more days before the bridge will be reopened. In the intereim, the City Clerk posted a detour map on the main City web site that I thought was also worth sharing here as well.

Middlebury Road Bridge Ready To Be Closed December...

Posted by dave in City Living, Safe City, Services News on November 20, 2008 | No Comments

In the on again, off again saga of the Middlebury Road bridge over the Cuyahoga River, I’ve been advised by the County Engineer’s Office that the contractor has now received all the necessary permits to fix the bridge so the bridge will officially be closed December 1, 2008. From that start date the contractor has 180 days to repair the bridge which would mean the bridge would be re-opened for traffic by Friday, May 29, 2009. So you’ll want to avoid Middlebury Road for the next 6 months or so. It’s inconvient but inconvenience beats bridge failure every time.

I looked around through the City files to see if we ever had a bridge collapse here in Kent but nothing popped up in my search. I saw some impressive flooding pictures from the turn of the century on the Kent Historical Society web site that made bridges temporarily useless but still no bridge failures. There’s also a compelling photo on the wall inside the Record Courier building here in Kent that showed a bridge failure but the folks in the room thought that photo was somewhere in the county rather than in Kent.

Since we’re on the topic of bridges the Kent Historical Society has some great shots of old time bridges in Kent. Here’s a few examples of what you’ll find in their photo gallery. It’s definitely worth a visit to their site and I know that they’re working on selling these images if you’re interested in a Kent keepsake.

I actually still had kept a photo of a bridge collapse in my last City so that’s the best I can offer. I guess it’s good sign when you can’t find a bridge collapse photo for your city so I won’t complain.

Train Derailment at Crain Avenue Bridge...

Posted by dave in Safe City, Services News on November 20, 2008 | No Comments

I’m sure most people have heard the news by now but when a train crashes in your downtown it seems worth mentioning. I have to admit it was a bit eerie to hear the news that the Crain Avenue bridge was hit since in Thursday’s blog I had just talked about looking through the files to see if there had ever been a bridge failure in Kent and someone dropped me a note saying that the Crain Avenue bridge had collapsed back in 1964. I wasn’t advocating a re-enactment of the bridge collapse but that’s almost what we got yesterday. As you might imagine this wasn’t exactly what we had in mind when we planned to replace the Crain Avenue Bridge.

Here’s the facts as I know them:

Sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 pm Thursday afternoon a southbound train on the lower CSX tracks derailed and collided with the Crain Avenue bridge. Approximately 18 cars derailed with most of them tipped to one side of the tracks or the other. At this point all of the tracks are shut down. The 2 cars that actually hit the bridge are piles of twisted metal that are standing upright adjacent the bridge. The rail cars were full with pulverized coal much of which has spilled out along the tracks. There were no injuries and there was no apparent private property damages other than to the bridge structure and a city sewer line which has been cracked open.

Bob Brown is working with Central Maintenance to set up a bypass sewer to prevent any further sewage from spilling out on the scene. We are not expecting any service interruptions for our sewer customers. The location of the sewer break is on the Water Street side of the tracks so the sewage that spilled has collected in pools between the tracks and Water Street and it does not appear to present any concern for getting into the river as it is contained a good distance from the river. The spilled coal has also served as an absorbant media for the wastewater. The Ohio EPA has been on the scene along with our Health Department to inspect the sewer issues as well.

Fire Chief Williams is in charge on the scene and he has the regional EMS team on site along with our Police, Central Maintenance and Engineering personnel. Obviously the bridge is closed and will remain closed until all the wreckage has been removed from under the bridge and a safety assessment has been performed on the extent of the structural damage to the bridge. I am not able to offer timelines at this point for how long the clean up will take but the CSX crews are on scene and I am sure that they will work around the clock to get the tracks reopened as soon as possible.

At this point it is unclear what may have caused the derailment.

2009 Proposed City Budget...

Posted by dave in City Dollars and Sense, Services News on November 19, 2008 | No Comments

Last week the staff and I presented City Council with our proposed 2009 City Budget. In many ways the budget is the numbers version of the state of the City address so I thought it was important to share my budget message here for everyone to read. Unfortunately the economic uncertainty that has disrupted the business world has impacted the City as well. I guess it’s a reflection of the unprecented challenges that we’re all facing that perhaps the best I can say about our budget is that things could be worse. Our reserve balance combined with strong support from Kent State University should keep us afloat for another year but the financial clock is ticking and as you’ll read we’ve got to make some decisions soon. If we don’t we risk losing our ability to define the future we want for this community, and instead it will come to define us.

[click here to view each section of the budget]

Tub Grinding at the City Yard Waste Site...

Posted by dave in Services News on November 18, 2008 | No Comments

Where there’s trees there’s leaves and as the original Tree City we got a lot of trees and that means lots of leaves. The good news is our City crews are working overtime collecting them but if you’re a homeowner who likes to rake and take your own leaves over to the City Yard Waste site at Plum Creek Park you need to know that this Wednesday we’ll have a tub grinder on the site grinding this years leaves down to become next year’s mulch so the site will be temporarily closed to the public. We hate to do it but it’s just not safe to keep it open while the grinder is there working. Here’s the scoop from the Kent Public Service Department.

November 14, 2008

***PRESS RELEASE***

The City of Kent’s

Yard Waste Transfer Site and Plum Creek Park will be temporarily closed

between the hours of 7:00am and 4:00pm Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Due to tub grinding activities at the City of Kent’s Yard Waste Transfer Site located on Plum Street it is necessary to temporarily close both Plum Creek Park and the Yard Waste Transfer Site between the hours of 7:00am and 4:00pm on Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

No public access to Plum Creek Park or the Yard Waste Transfer Site will be permitted during this time. Residents will not be permitted to drop off yard waste or pick up finished mulch.

For more information please call the Service Department at (330) 678-8105.

City of Kent , Ohio
Eugene K. Roberts
Director of Public Service

Zoning Review Session #2: Roles and Responsibiliti...

Posted by dave in Services News on November 17, 2008 | No Comments

This Tuesday (tomorrow) night will be session #2 for the combined City Council, Planning Commission, Environmental Commission, and Board of Zoning Appeals joint code review meeting. I will admit that the City’s Zoning Code will never end up on the best seller list but if you care about what the future of our City will look like it’s a must read. Our Community Development Director has started a zoning code version of a book club and he’s offering monthly review sessions to walk anyone that wants to listen through the most important aspects of the code to make sure they’re set up to take us where we want to go. This week’s session focuses on the Zoning Code roles and responsibilities.

Here’s Gary’s email announcing the Session #2:
Good morning everyone!

Attached to this email are the materials for the next joint meeting for the purpose of conducting a comprehensive review of the zoning code.

The next meeting will be Session 2 and will be devoted to discussing the roles and responsibilities of the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. You will find the following attachments:

1. Meeting agenda

2. Staff Paper (Report)

3. Applicable Draft Unified Development Code Chapters (shaded text represents additional wording). The UDC was a work in progress and never formally adopted. It does have some good work put into it that should be considered.

4. Applicable Existing Zoning Code Sections

The joint meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 7:00 PM in City Council Chambers. Please join us for this discussion if you can and share your thoughts with us. If you cannot attend and would like to mail or email written comments, those comments should be directed to my attention and will be shared with those attending the meeting.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank You!!

Winter Energy Costs...

Posted by dave in City Living, Recent Releases on November 10, 2008 | No Comments

I can’t believe that I’m already watching white rain drops fall from the sky and accumulate on the roof of my car. Are you kidding me? Apparently not. So with thoughts of chestnuts roasting over an open fire, I thought it was a good time to share information that the City has received regarding the price of fuel (gas and electric) that we’ll be using to keep warm this winter.

This was a tough summer for gas at the pumps but the outlook for natural gas costs is better. As a NOPEC community, gas customers in Kent have a chance to buy gas in greater quantities and at discounted prices. Overall NOPEC has a good track for record beating retail gas prices by buying wholesale and it looks like they’ve been able to lock down very reasonable prices for this winter as well.

Here’s a note from our NOPEC representatives:

TO ALL DEO MEMBER NOPEC COMMUNITIES – October 27, 2008 GAS PURCHASES – DEO AREA

Dear NOPEC representative:

I am very pleased to announce to you that NOPEC has been able to purchase the cheapest gas we have purchased since we have been receiving gas from Dominion Retail. We have now extended our purchases in the Dominion East Ohio area from June 2009 through August 2009, at the rate of $9.59 mcf.

NOPEC is very excited about these rates because this puts our member communities in great shape through next summer. Also, the U.S. Department of Energy’s prediction is that natural gas prices during the winter in Ohio will be up 17% from last year. NOPEC’s price for this winter in the DEO area is up seven and one half percent (7.5%) from last year and our price next summer in the DEO area will be 15% less than this summer.

Gas update as of October 21, 2008 – DEO area

September, 2008 – $11.24/mcf
October and November, 2008 – $10.98/mcf
December, 2008-May, 2009 – $10.88/mcf
June, 2009 – August, 2009 – $9.59/mcf

If you’ve got baseboard heat in your home, electric bills seem to be a different story. NOPEC is fighting a rate hike from First Energy on their customers behalf (all 600,000 of them) and as you read the following memorandum it sounds like an uphill battle. It looks like as customers we’re already losing an agreed upon 5% price discount and on top of that First Energy is raising the rates.