Bee Branch Master Pl RFP'sMEMORAN
DUM
July 30, 2002
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan Request for Proposals (RFP)
Assistant City Engineer Gus Psihoyos re,.ommenos authorization to solicit proposals
from qualified engineering firms to build a Drainage Basin Master Plan for the Bee
Branch watershed basin.
In December of 2001, the DBMP was formally adopted by the City Council. During the
Fiscal Year 2003 budget process, a capital improvement budget Was recommended to
City Council based on the DBMP recommended improvements; however, because of
the opposition voiced by the residents, the portion of the proposed channel that was to
extend from Garfield Avenue to 24~ and Elm Street was removed from.the Fiscal Year
2003 budget. With the approval of the Fiscal Year 2003 CIP budget, funding was
established to hire an engineering firm to restudy the Bee Branch drainage basin. In
addition, Council authorized the use of a survey process to receive input from the
approximately 1,150 property owners and residents to gain a greater understanding of
the scope of the problem.
In December of 2001, at the recommendation of the Long-Range Planning Advisory
Commission, the City Council appointed Dr. Charles Winterwood (member of the Long-
Range Planning Advisory Commission) to chair the Citizen Advisory Committee for the
Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study. However, Dr. Winterwood's appointment was
subsequently tabled when the Fiscal Year 2003 budget was formally adopted. Having
expressed his interest in the Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan, Dr. Wintervvood
has been actively participating, providing input as a member the RFP Review
Committee. It is recommended that Dr. Charles Winterwood be appointed chairperson
of the Citizen Advisory Committee that will be formed as part of the Bee Branch
Drainage Basin Master Plan Project.
concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Mi&hael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahll Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Gus Psihoyos, Assistant City Engineer
TO:
CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
MEMORANDUM
July 30, 2002
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Gus Psihoyos, Assistant City Engineer L3~. ~.~,~
SUBJECT: Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan Request for Proposals (RFP)
INTRODUCTION
An RFP for the Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan has been drafted and reviewed
by the proposal review committee.
BACKGROUND
In 1996, the City of Dubuque, through the Capital Improvement Project Budget,
committed to developing a City-Wide Stormwater Management Plan. The need for the
plan arose from a growing number of citizen complaints related to stormwater runoff.
Increasing public safety and reducing property damage due to stormwater runoff are the
primary goals of the Stormwater Management Plan.
One of the elements of the Stormwater Management plan is a Drainage Basin Master
Plan. A master plan is a plan for an entire watershed. When a modification is made to
'a portion of a watershed's drainage pattern, it usually affects the drainage patterns of
the entire watershed. The Drainage Basin Master Plan is necessary to ensure that
efforts to solve stormwater problems are efficient and cost-effective and address the
concerns of taxpayers and drainage system users.
Drainage problems in the Bee Branch watershed basin became evident on May 16,
1999. A severe thunderstorm moved through the Dubuque area producing between two
and a half (2.5) and five (5) inches of rainfall in a six-hour period, the latter would
indicate between a 50- and 75-year rainfall event.
In July of 2001, HDR Engineering (Omaha, NE) presented a preliminary Drainage Basin
Master Plan (DBMP) to the City of Dubuque City Council. It established the 100-year
flood plain for the Bee Branch watershed basin with over 1,150 homes and businesses
recognized as being within the floodplain limits and at risk of flood damage during a
100-year rainfall event. The DBMP identified several capital improvements that would
reduce the threat of flood damage. Table 1 lists the improvements recommended for
Bee Branch watershed basin and reveals the impact each improvement has on the
homes and businesses in the floodpiain~
Table 1. Bee Branch Drainage Basin improvements Recommended by HDR Engineering.
Homes &
Businesses
lmprovemen Description Est. Cost Remaining Homes &
t In the Businesses
Floodplain Purchased
Upper Carter Build an earthen berm to create 182
Detention $875,000
Basin acre-feet of storage.
Purchase I5 homes surrounding
W132~ Street the existing basin and excavate
Detention within the basin to increase the $4,023,000 990(~) 15
BaSin available storage 100% to 94 acre-
feet.
Grandview &
Kaufmann Build an earthen berm to create 44
$53O,OOO
Detention acre-feet of-storage.
Basin
150' wide flood-way from the I
Floodway
from 16t~ St. existing 16th Street detention cell to $6,900,000 645(2)II 17
to Garfield Garfield Ave. and Pine Street. I
Floodway 150' wide flood-way from Garfield
from Garfield Ave. and Pine Street to 24th and $10,200,000 < 5(~ 53
to 24t~ Street. Elm Streets
TOTAL $22,528,000 I 85
1 .After the construction of the Carter Road detention cell and modifications to the existing W32nd Street
detention cell.
2.After the construction of the Carter Road detention cell, modifications to the existing W32nd Street
detention cell, and construction of the channel from 16th St. to Garfield.
3.After the construction of the Carter Road detention' cell, modifications to the existing W32nd Street
detention cell, and construction of the channel from 16t" St. to 24t~ and Elm.
in October, City staff presented the DBMP to the North End Neighborhood Association -
the neighborhood where the majority of the 1,150 homes and businesses are located.
The channel from 16th Street to 24~ and Elm was presented. There were some
concerns expressed about relocating families. Building the channel from 16th Street to
24th and Elm would require the purchasing of approximately 70 homes/businesses.
In December' of 2001, the DBMP was formally adopted by the City Council. During the
Fiscal Year 2003 budget process, a capital improvement budget was recommended to
City Council based on the DBMP recommended improvements.
In February, 2002, City staff presented the DBMP at a Washington Neighborhood
Council meeting. Many of the approximately 150 residents in attendance voiced
opposition to the portion of the DBMP that called for the removal of 70 homes.
Because of the opposition voiced by residents, the portion of the proposed channel that
was to extend from Garfield Avenue to 24th and Elm Street was removed from the Fiscal
Year 2003 bud~get. With the approval of the Fiscal Year 2003 ClP budget, funding was
established to hire an engineering firm to restudy the Bee Branch drainage basin. In
addition, Council authorized the use of a survey process to receive input from the
approximately 1,150 property owners and residents to gain a greater understanding of
the scope of the problem.
DISCUSSION
Several features will be incorporated into the Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan
process to ensure that impacted residents are able to participate in the creation of the
drainage basin master plan for their neighborhoods.
Mr. Wayne Klosterman, President of the North End Neighborhood Association, and Mr.
Dan Shireman, President'of the Washington Neighborhood Council, are serving as
members of the proposal review committee. The committee's objective is to review
proposals from consultants and to recommend to the City Council the engineering firm
whom the committee feels would be the best firm to prepare the Bee Branch Drainage
Basin Master Plan.
A significant prerequisite of the consulting firm will be its ability to work with impacted
residents. The Consultant must establish channels of communication that promote
input from the 1,150 impacted residents. The following shall be included in the project
scope: the formation of a Citizen Advisory Committee; the completion of a survey; public
meetings with neighborhood groups; and presentations to the City Council.
The Citizen Advisory Committee is to be assembled in such a manner that it generally
represents a cross-section of the impacted residents. The purpose of the Committee is
to help the Consultant produce a Drainage Basin Master Plan for the Bee Branch
watershed basin that consists of alternatives and improvements that are agreeable to
the impacted residents - arrive at a plan that the residents of the Bee Branch basin can
call their own. The Consultant must facilitate a consensus, enabling the committee to
recommend the adoption of the Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan to the City
Council.
In December of 2001, at the recommendation of the Lc~ng-Range Planning Advisory
Commission, the City Council appointed Dr. Charles Winterwood (member of the Long-
Range Planning Advisory Commission) to chair the Citizen Advisory Committee for the
Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study. However, Dr. Winterwood's appointment was
subsequently tabled when the Fiscal Year 2003 budget was formally adopted. Having
expressed his interest in the Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan, Dr. Winterwood
has been actively participating, providing input as a member of the RFP Review
Committee.
The schedule for the selection of a consulting firm is as follows:
RFP Sent to Firms
Responses Due
Committee To Establish Short List
Interviews Conducted
Committee to-Select Firm
Committee to Recommend Firm to City Council
August 7, 2002
September 2, 2002
September 6, 2002
3rd Week of September, 2002
4t~ Week of September, 2002
October 7, 2002
With these dates as a guide, it is anticipated that the consultant would initiate the project
the first week of November. The project will require between nine and eighteen months
to complete.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the City Council authorize the City Manager to solicit proposals from
qualified engineering firms to build a Drainage Basin Master Plan for the Bee Branch
watershed basin. In addition, I recommend that Dr. Charles Winterwood be appointed
chairperson of the Citizen Advisory Committee that will be formed as p.art of the Bee
Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan project.
BUDGET IMPACT
The engineering cost estimate for the Bee Branch Basin Master Plan Project is
$250,000. The project will be funded from a Fiscal Year 2003 General Fund
appropriation in the amount of $250,000.
ACTION REQUESTED
I respectfully request that the City Council authorize the City Manager to solicit
proposals from qualified engineering firms to develop a Drainage Basin Master Plan for
the Bee Branch watershed basin and that the City Council appoint Dr. Charles
Winterwood chairperson of the Citizen Advisory Committee to be formed as part of the
Bee Branch Drainage Basin Master Plan project.
CC:
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Pauline Joyce, Administrative Services Manager
Ken TeKippe, Finance Director
Laura Carstens, Planning Services Manager
David Harris, Housing and Community Development Manager
Michael A. Koch, Public Works Director
Jerelyn O'Connor, Neighborhood Development Specialist
Susan Gwiasda, Public Information Officer
Deron Muehring, Civil Engineer
Dr. Charles Winterwood, Long-Range Planning Advisory Commission Member
Wayne Klosterman, North End Neighborhood Association President
Dan Shireman, Washington Neighborhood Council President