From: KIEFFER Loretta L
Sent: Mon Apr 24 08:50:29 2017
To: 'Gerald Fisher'
Cc: KEYES Michael E; BACON Dan W; GUTIERREZ Rodger C
Subject: RE: Stowers & Main in Molalla
Importance: Normal
Attachments: rd755_3_Perp_Buffer.pdf; Please see attached. From: KIEFFER Loretta L Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 8:01 AM To: 'Gerald Fisher'; GUTIERREZ Rodger C Cc: KEYES Michael E; BACON Dan W Subject: RE: Stowers & Main in Molalla Who is doing the design exception? Who is stamping it? And how long will it take? From: Gerald Fisher [mailto:gfisher@cityofmolalla.com] Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 12:07 PM To: KIEFFER Loretta L Cc: KEYES Michael E; BACON Dan W Subject: RE: Stowers & Main in Molalla Hi Loretta, Just got off of the phone with Roger and we will be able to move forward with the design exception for a single ramp. I had misunderstood and thought we were trying to do the DE for the earlier sketch. All is good now. Thanks. Regards, Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director City of Molalla 117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038 Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you. From: Gerald Fisher [mailto:gfisher@cityofmolalla.com] Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 11:35 AM To: KIEFFER Loretta L <Loretta.L.KIEFFER@odot.state.or.us> Cc: KEYES Michael E <Michael.E.KEYES@odot.state.or.us>; BACON Dan W <Dan.W.BACON@odot.state.or.us> Subject: RE: Stowers & Main in Molalla Hi Loretta, I don’t have a problem requesting a design exception on behalf of the City but I can’t put my stamp on the design exception that could open up myself and the City up to legal issues related to ADA or the fact that ODOT won’t close a crossing to a commercial driveway and allow for signing. If someone walks out and gets hit because ODOT didn’t close the crossing and allow for the proper signing then we (City) are at fault by stamping the design exception. I can’t do that. From a Professional Engineer’s standpoint, I do not agree with ODOT decision to not allow for the crossing closure. As a PE, I have a responsibility to protect the public regardless of ODOT policy or any ADA court case decision. As discussed in our meeting earlier this month I believe that the crossing needs to be closed and a better location for a crossing is on the east leg of this intersection. However, neither the City, the contractor, nor ODOT District have the funds to follow the new design requirements that have come down from headquarters in Salem requiring surveyed and engineered design plans for every ramp constructed on a state highway as stated in our meeting. I want to help ODOT with resolution of this issue but we are asking a contractor to reconstruct a ramp to new court driven standards that by all rights should have been reconstructed during the last pavement project along Hwy 211. We all know better know what we have to do in future and we all want to do the right thing here. The issue is there is no money to do a full blown reconstruction and fix this intersection. All the property owners wanted was for the missing sidewalk panels to be installed so no one tripped and it wasn’t a weed patch. Something very simple has blown up into a complicated process. Not sure how you want to proceed and we have only been a facilitator in this process to get the sidewalk installed for the homeowner and to connect to the state highway. Let me know what you find out internally from ODOT. Thanks Loretta. Also, I left a message for Rodger letting him know you would be getting this email. We need to figure out a way to close the crossing which will solve a lot of our issues with this ramp. Regards, Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director City of Molalla 117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038 Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you. From: KIEFFER Loretta L [mailto:Loretta.L.KIEFFER@odot.state.or.us] Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 9:03 AM To: BACON Dan W <Dan.W.BACON@odot.state.or.us>; KEYES Michael E <Michael.E.KEYES@odot.state.or.us> Cc: Gerald Fisher (gfisher@cityofmolalla.com) <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com> Subject: FW: Stowers & Main in Molalla From the way I am interpreting this email we can go ahead and install the single ADA ramp that Gerald recommended. From: GUTIERREZ Rodger C Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 4:33 PM To: KIEFFER Loretta L; Gerald Fisher (gfisher@cityofmolalla.com) Cc: CHRISTOPHER Basil R; KIMLINGER Michael J; SHOBLOM Heidi E; PAPPE Robert G; KEYES Michael E; BACON Dan W Subject: Stowers & Main in Molalla Loretta, I have read the emails you have sent me about the missing curb ramp at this corner. The impression I get from it is that we do not have the resources available to get the ideal solution at this corner and that we have a pressing need to fill this sidewalk gap that is inaccessible to the public right now. Based on this understanding of the conditions here, we concur with an ‘emergency maintenance’ approach that fills this sidewalk gap with one curb ramp – and that we will need to come back with the ideal fix later. The standard is two curb ramps per corner unless one direction is closed. We took a preliminary look at the corner and believe that it may not be approved for closure. Each curb ramp is required to have a detailed design to help ensure that slopes are met. I understand that the proposed design is a sketch rather than an engineered drawing. Curb ramps have to pass inspection using the ODOT ADA Curb Ramp Inspection Forms 734-5020. It sounds like a single curb ramp directed across Stowers Road is feasible and that the contractor can be held to meet the requirements in the standard drawing. I understand that these were not the contractor’s expectations and it sounds like it took some convincing to get the contractor to come back to do any work here at this point. We cannot altogether waive the ADA requirements, but recognize that something is better than nothing. I believe we can provide a curb ramp that serves the crossing of Stowers Road now and we can add the second curb ramp at the corner across Main Street in the future. We would need to use an ODOT ADA Curb Ramp Design Exception to explain the decision to provide one ramp instead of two because of the circumstances at hand. Since the contractor is not an engineer, I think the Design Exception would be requested by the City. I can help with that. Thanks, Rodger Gutierrez, P.E. ADA & Bicycle/Pedestrian Engineer | Oregon Department of Transportation| rodger.c.gutierrez@odot.state.or.us | 503-986-3554