Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project_Alignment Proposals
December 12, 2002
Memorandum
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Solicitation of Proposals for Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study
As requested at the December 9, 2002 City Council Work Session on Stormwater
Management, Assistant City Engineer Gus Psihoyos is recommending that the City
proceed with a solicitation for proposals for the Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project
from 24th Street to the 16th Street Detention Basin alignment study and preliminary
design. It is important to note that the component of this project from 24th Street to the
railroad tracks near Farmland has not yet been approved by the City Council, but that
this additional information has been requested by City Council prior to giving further
consideration to this component of the Stormwater Management Plan. The current City
budget has a $250,000 allocation for these services.
A recommendation on firm selection will be at the March 17, 2003 City Council meeting.
The project will take 9 to 15 months to complete.
Several features will be incorporated into the Bee Branch Alignment Study to ensure
that impacted residents are able to participate in the creation of the alignment of the
channel.
1. A representative from the North End Association and the Washington Street
Neighborhood Council will be asked to serve as members of the RFP Review
Committee;
2. A Citizen Advisory Committee will be formed to work with the consultant to
ensure citizen input during the alignment study; and
3. In December of 2001, Long Range Planning Advisory Commission member,
Dr. Charles Winterwood was appointed chairperson of the Citizen Advisory
Committee at the recommendation of the Long Range Planning Advisory
Commission; it is recommended that Dr. Winterwood serve as a member of
the RFP Review Committee to help select the firm best suited to perform the
alignment study.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
____________________________________
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Gus Psihoyos, Assistant City Engineer
Michael Koch, Public Works Director
MEMORANDUM
December 10, 2002
TO:Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM:Gus Psihoyos, Assistant City Engineer
SUBJECT: Solicitation of Proposals for Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study
NTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to request that the City Council authorize City staff
to solicit proposals for the Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study.
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 are the primary goals of the
stormwater management plan.
In 1997, the City Council approved the selection of HDR Engineering, Inc. of Omaha,
Nebraska to prepare a stormwater management plan. One of the elements of the plan
is the Bee Branch drainage basin (See Figure 1).
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, for better or worse, the
drainage of the entire watershed. A 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.
To achieve the objectives of increasing public safety and reducing property damage
related to stormwater runoff, HDR included the following elements in preparing the City
of Dubuque Drainage Basin Master Plan (DBMP):
1. Determine the capacity of the existing drainage system for the 10-, 50-,
100- and 500-year return period storm events under future drainage basin
characteristics;
2. Develop hydrologic and hydraulic models using aerial topographic
mapping using the Dubuque Area Geographical Information System
(DAGIS) for major drainage segments within each watershed; and
3. Identify areas where public safety is compromised and property damage
occurs due to stormwater runoff.
Bee Branch Basin Master Plan
The problems that exist in the Bee Branch basin became evident on May 16, 1999.
Reports throughout the City indicated that between two and a half and five inches of
rainfall occurred in a five-hour period.
The HDR’s DBMP confirmed that the existing stormwater drainage system in the Bee
Branch basin has major deficiencies. HDR identified over 1,150 homes and businesses
in the Bee Branch basin that are in the 100-year flood plain and at risk of flood damage
every year (See Figure 2).
HDR determined that the construction of a detention basin near Carter Road at a cost of
$875,000 and doubling the size of the existing West 32nd Street Basin at a cost of
$4,023,000 would reduce the number of homes and businesses at risk by 185.
HDR also determined that it would require the construction of a storm sewer five times
the size of the existing Bee Branch storm sewer to eliminate the risk to the remaining
970 homes and businesses. The Bee Branch storm sewer is 20 feet wide by 12 feet
high at its largest point. The cost of building five such storm sewers was estimated by
HDR at approximately $93 million.
As an alternative to five Bee Branch sewers, HDR determined that an open waterway or
channel originating at 24th and Elm Streets and extending to the 16th Street detention
basin would eliminate the risk of flood damage to the remaining 970 homes and
businesses at an estimated cost of $17.1 million. The estimated cost includes the
purchasing of approximately 70 homes and businesses. HDR recommended in the
DBMP the construction of the open waterway channel.
Figure 3 shows the extent of properties still at risk if the open waterway is not
constructed; although 185 of the 1,155 homes and businesses would no longer be at
risk because of the construction of a detention basin near Carter Road and the
improvements to the West 32nd Street Basin, approximately 970 homes and business
will remain at risk unless the open waterway is constructed.
Historically, the Bee Branch Creek meandered through the North End of the City. The
storm sewer that exists today was the result of lining the creek with limestone and
eventually covering the entire length of the creek from West 32nd Street to the 16th
Street detention basin. The proposed channel would, if constructed, be the restoration
of the Bee Branch Creek. Figure 4 shows the proposed channel extents.
The channel recommended by HDR is at this point only conceptual. With a 76-foot
bottom width and mildly sloping landscaped banks to a channel depth of approximately
ten feet, a 150-foot green corridor would be required. An alignment/preliminary design
study is required to determine what the channel will look like and the approximate
alignment of the channel. Depending on the alignment, the waterway will effect
between 60 and 80 homes and businesses.
In December of 2001, the City Council formally adopted the DBMP prepared by HDR.
Following HDR’s recommendations, City staff prepared a Fiscal Year 2003 budget that
included the capital improvement projects recommended by HDR. In addition, staff
recommended the establishment of funds to conduct a study to determine the alignment
of the proposed channel from 24th and Elm to 16th and Sycamore. Such a study would
identify where the channel would be built and identify what properties would be
impacted.
The portion of the proposed channel that was to extend from Garfield Avenue to 24th
and Elm Street was not included in the Fiscal Year 2003 budget. Instead, the City
Council budgeted $250,000 to hire an engineering firm to restudy the Bee Branch basin
and try to find an alternative solution that would not have such a significant impact on
the neighborhood as the open waterway might have.
DISCUSSION
In August of 2002, the City Council authorized the City Manager to solicit proposals
from qualified engineering firms to develop a second Bee Branch Basin Master Plan.
On October 21, 2002 a review committee made a recommendation to the City Council
to authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with MSA Professional
Services to re-study the Bee Branch drainage basin.
The City Council rejected the re-study of the Bee Branch drainage basin. However, the
City Council directed City staff to bring to it for further consideration that portion of the
DBMP recommending the open waterway from 24th street to the 16th Street Detention
Basin.
On December 9, 2002, the City Council held a work session with HDR and IIW
Engineering to discuss the original DBMP and to answer questions related to the study.
HDR advised the City Council that the next step in implementing the DBMP would be to
conduct an alignment study of the proposed open waterway channel from 24th & Elm to
the 16th Street Detention Basin.
Following the work session, City Engineering staff began the process of determining the
scope of services for the alignment study for the RFP process. The schedule for
selecting a consulting firm is as follows:
RFP sent to Firms January 10, 2003
Responses Due January 31, 2003
Committee To Establish A Short List February 7, 2003
Interviews Conducted Week of Feb. 24, 2003
Committee to Select Firm March 10, 2003
Committee to Recommend Firm to City Council March 17, 2003
With these dates as a guide, it is anticipated that a consultant would initiate the project
the first week of April, 2003. The project would require between nine and fifteen months
depending on the complete scope of service.
ELEMENTS OF THE RFP PROCESS
Several features will be incorporated into the Bee Branch Alignment Study to ensure
that impacted residents are able to participate in the creation of the alignment of the
channel.
1. Representatives from the North End Association and the Washington Street
Neighborhood Council will be asked serve as members of the RFP Review
Committee;
2. A Citizen Advisory Committee will be formed to work with the consultant to
ensure citizen input during the alignment study;
3. In December of 2001, Long Range Planning Advisory Commission member,
Dr. Charles Winterwood was appointed chairperson of the Citizen Advisory
Committee at the recommendation of the Long Range Planning Advisory
Commission; it is recommended that Dr. Winterwood serve as a member of
the RFP Review Committee to help select the firm best suited to perform the
alignment study.
The RF{ Review Committee’s objective is to recommend to the City Council the
engineering firm that is best qualified to perform the alignment study. A significant
requirement will be the firm’s ability to work with impacted residents. The firm must be
able to establish channels of communication with the 1,150 impacted residents. The
following will be included in the project scope:
The formation of the Citizen Advisory Committee
Public meetings with neighborhood groups
Presentations to the City Council
The Citizen Advisory Committee will be assembled in such a manner that it generally
represents a cross section of impacted residents. The purpose of the Committee is to
ensure that impacted residents have input as the firm produces the alignment study of
the open waterway.
The study process will include impacted residents and City staff working together with
the firm selected, considering multiple alignment alternatives, and arriving at a
consensus for recommendation to the City Council.
BUDGET IMPACT
The engineering cost for the Bee Branch Alignment Study is estimated to be between
$250,000 - $400,000 depending on the scope of services selected. The project will be
funded from a Fiscal Year 2003 General Fund Appropriation in the amount of $250,000.
If required, prioritization of the Fiscal Year 2004 CIP budget can provide additional
funds for the study.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the City Council authorize the City Manager to solicit proposals from
qualified engineering firms to conduct the Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study.
In addition, I recommend that Dr. Charles Winterwood be appointed chairperson of the
Citizen Advisory Committee to be formed as part of the Bee Branch Creek Alignment
Study.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
I respectively request the City Council to authorize the City Manager to solicit proposals
from qualified engineering firms for the Bee Branch Creek Alignment Study and that the
City Council appoint Dr. Charles Winterwood as Chairperson of the Citizen Advisory
Committee to be formed as part of the study.
Prepared by Deron Muehring, Civil Engineer
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Engineer
Pauline Joyce, Administrative Services Manager
Ken TeKippe, Finance Director
Michael Koch, Public Works 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
Dr. Charles Winterwood, Long Range Planning Advisory Commission Member
Wayne Klostermann, North End Neighborhood Association
Dan Shireman, Washington Neighborhood Council
Figure 1. Location of the Bee Branch drainage basin in the City of Dubuque (corporate limits
-25 square miles)
Figure 2. 100-year flooding depths under existing conditions
Figure 3. Projected flooding depths with W. 32nd Street sub-basin improvements.
Figure 4. Extents of the recommended flood control channel