RE: Asphalt

From: Jennifer Cline

Sent: Fri May 29 08:30:10 2015

To: Dan Huff

Subject: RE: Asphalt

Importance: Normal

Will do

Jennifer Cline, P.E.

City of Molalla

Public Works Director

O: 503.759.0218

F: 503.829.3676

"file:///C:

From: Dan Huff [mailto:dhuff@cityofmolalla.com]

Sent: Friday, May 29, 2015 8:25 AM

To: Jennifer Cline

Subject: FW: Asphalt

Jen take a look at this also

From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 6:00 PM

To: dhuff@cityofmolalla.com

Subject: RE: Asphalt

BELOW is my draft for the story. Please review for factual errors. I’m sure I’ll do some re-wrwiting and move some things around, and I hope to add a quote from your consultant and from Oregon City’s city manager. I appreciate your attention to this and your help in advance. Looking forward to a long, mutually beneficial working relationship with the City of Molalla.

Sincerely,

Daniel Pearson

Reporter – Molalla Pioneer/Canby Herald

503-266-6831

dpearson@canbyherald.com

City Mulling Moratorium on Street Cutting

By Daniel Pearson

The City of Molalla is working on plans to place a moratorium on anyone cutting into recently-paved city streets so that new roads aren’t ripped open right after paving is completed.

Many cities have a provision in their street design standards prohibiting cutting into new streets. The reason is because re-paving existing roadways is no inexpensive endeavor. For instance, Molalla recently completed patch work and repaving to Stowers Avenue, Grange Avenue and Heintz Street – a project requiring 3,742 tons of asphalt at a cost of $75 per ton for a total of about $280,600, Molalla Public Works Director Jennifer Cline said via email.

Additionally, the public tends to get upset when an outside entity comes along and starts ripping up a newly-completed, taxpayer-funded road.

“Most people tend to think it’s (the city) doing it when really it’s someone else,” Molalla City Manager Dan Huff said.

One-and-a-half years ago the city had no permit or inspection requirement for anyone wishing to cut into a street, projects typically done by utilities, cable companies, developers, and private-property owners as well, the latter when they need to repair a faulty gas line or something similar. Today, Molalla requires any person or company to file a permit with the public works department prior to cutting into a street, but that is the only hurdle anyone faces prior to digging up city-owned asphalt.

The Molalla City Council previously asked Huff to provide them with examples of street cutting moratoriums already in place in other Oregon towns. The council reviewed the street design standards of Oregon City, Wilsonville and Portland, and ultimately decided to work on designing Molalla’s similar to Oregon City’s because the councilors prefer its tiered approach – no cutting at all for three years after paving is completed, unless an emergency arises.

“After those three years pass, any project approved by the City of Molalla would require the applicant to ‘go full standard,’ meaning replacing the road curb to curb, not just replacing the trench they cut,” Huff said. “That will ensure that the street is refinished stronger, and that it is as smooth as it was when we finished paving it.”

Home owners, companies and utilities would still be able to complete work that requires cutting into the street, and will have plenty of notice to do so prior to the city coming in and laying new asphalt, but after the street improvement is completed there will be a “significant fee attached” anytime someone needs to cut into the street, Huff said. He declined to provide a ballpark figure as to what that fee may be because the council hasn’t even discussed it yet.

Councilor Stephen Clark, who lost his bid for re-election to the city council in 2014 but recently was rehired to fill the vacant seat left by Chris Cook, who recently moved from Molalla (councilors are required to live inside the city limits), said he has always been in favor of a moratorium on street cutting when it comes to newly-completed roads. Clark’s personal experience with street cutting ruining a new roadway came just after the City of Molalla rebuilt Shirley Street near his home.

“They repaved the whole street and within a month or two one of the property owners (on Shirley Street) decided to split his lot into two parcels,” Clark said. “They had to cut into a brand new street to get utilities (up to the lots), and from that point on it created a bump the newly-paved street that tax dollars just paid for. (A moratorium would be) beneficial overall to the city and to the people that live here.”

From: Dan Huff [mailto:dhuff@cityofmolalla.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 5:04 PM

To: Daniel Pearson

Subject: RE: Asphalt

Gerald Fisher, PE 503-679-4004

From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 4:17 PM

To: dhuff@cityofmolalla.com

Subject: RE: Asphalt

Hey Dan. Not sure why I didn’t think of this before. Could I get the name and contact info for the consultant you guys are working with that mentioned the street cutting issue? I just want to get a quote from him about why this is important. Can’t only quote you in the story … one source stories equal bad reporting.

Daniel

From: Dan Huff [mailto:dhuff@cityofmolalla.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 3:58 PM

To: Daniel Pearson

Subject: FW: Asphalt

Hope this helps

From: Jennifer Cline [mailto:jcline@cityofmolalla.com]

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 3:58 PM

To: Dan Huff

Subject: RE: Asphalt

Depends on the thickness of the AC and width of the road. All vary on the project.

Typical section