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Revised Sidewalk Replacement Policy Proposal Related to Street Tree Impacted SidewalksCity of Dubuque City Council Meeting Action Items # 6. Copyrighted May 17, 2021 ITEM TITLE: Revised Sidewalk Replacement Policy Proposal Related to Street Tree Impacted Sidewalks SUMMARY: City Manager recommending City Council approval of a revision to the sidewalk replacement policy related to street tree impacted sidewalk, which includes not assessing the abutting property owner for the sidewalk replacement caused by the former location of a City street tree effective May 17, 2021. SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Approve DISPOSITION: ATTACHMENTS: Description Type Revised Sidewalk Replacement Policy-MVM Memo City Manager Memo Staff Memo Staff Memo Dubuque THE CITY OF DE-E All-America City U B ' 111. ' 13 Masterpiece on the Mississippi zoo�•*o YP PP Zoi720zoi9 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Revised Sidewalk Replacement Policy Proposal Related to Street Tree Impacted Sidewalks DATE: May 13, 2021 City Engineer Gus Psihoyos and Leisure Services Manager Marie Ware recommend City Council approval of a revision to the sidewalk replacement policy related to street tree impacted sidewalk, which includes not assessing the abutting property owner for the sidewalk replacement caused by the former location of a City street tree effective May 17, 2021. Iowa Code and Dubuque's City ordinance states that the abutting property owner is responsible for all maintenance in the area between the property line and the back of curb. City policy is property owners are required to replace sidewalks that are defective no matter what has caused the defect. When the City is notified of a sidewalk defect a notice is sent to the abutting property owner. The property owner is provided a time frame to correct the defect(s). If a property owner fails to correct a defect the City intervenes, corrects the defect, and assesses the property owner for the project. There is an exception regarding sidewalks disturbed by street trees a second time. If the sidewalk has been replaced by the abutting property owner once due to a tree heaving or affecting the sidewalk, the City warrants any future sidewalk replacement caused by the tree. Upon a repeat instance, the City repairs the sidewalk. Leisure Services and Engineering are proposing that any sidewalk impacted by a City owned tree be replaced/repaired by the City at City expense. This change in policy would allow the Engineering Department to have a combined stump/sidewalk replacement project with the City paying for the sidewalk repairs instead of the abutting property owner the first time and all subsequent times it may occur. The advantage is this allows staff to work with a single contractor to coordinate removal of the stump and timely repair of the sidewalks on a particular project. Combining the stump work and sidewalk replacement (if needed) will allow for a single contractor to address all issues associated with the tree and stump removal. This limits the disruption of pedestrian walkability, utility locate tickets, bid pricing, and staff hours. The intent would be to bid out 200 stumps for removal this year, in two separate bid packages (100 each). Of the 200 ash tree stumps, it is estimated 40% or 80 of the stumps have hazardous sidewalks in the vicinity of the stump that have yet to be corrected. This would normally result in the homeowner being responsible for the repair of the sidewalk. The typical time it takes Engineering staff to mark hazardous sidewalks, process letters, coordinate finding a contractor if property owner does not cooperate, develop assessment documents, and follow up is 4 staff hours for each abutting property. Based on 80 locations, this equates to 320 hours or 8 weeks of continuous staff time. On average, if 15 feet of sidewalk needs to be replaced at each stump location at 2020 pricing of $82.38 per square yard. The City's cost for repairing these hazardous walks would cost approximately $44,000. The cost of sidewalk repair for each property/tree site would be approximately $550. Funds are available in the city budget in two programs, Sidewalk Construction and Curb Repair and Contract Emerald Ash Borer Tree and Stump Removal. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. v Mic ael C. Van Milligen MCVM:jh Attachment cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager Gus Psihoyos, City Engineer Marie L. Ware, Leisure Services Manager I THE CITY OF DUB E Masterpiece on the Mississippi TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: Gus Psihoyos, City Engineer Marie L. Ware, Leisure Services Manager DATE: May 12, 2021 Dubuque AII•AmeftLIII .WIICNWI.CMIC IkA'_LF. 2007-2012.2013 2017*2019 RE: Revised Sidewalk Replacement Policy Proposal Related to Street Tree Impacted Sidewalks INTRODUCTION The purpose of this memo is to request revision of the current City policy to assess property owners for costs related to sidewalk replacement due to a street tree in the City right of way. BACKGROUND Iowa Code and Dubuque's City ordinance states that the abutting property owner is responsible for all maintenance in the area between the property line and the back of curb. City policy is property owners are required to replace sidewalks that are defective no matter what has caused the defect. When the City is notified of a sidewalk defect a notice is sent to the abutting property owner. The property owner is provided a time frame to correct the defect(s). If a property owner fails to correct a defect the City intervenes, corrects the defect, and assesses the property owner for the project. There is an exception regarding sidewalks disturbed by street trees a second time. If the sidewalk has been replaced by the abutting property owner once due to a tree heaving or affecting the sidewalk, the City warrants any future sidewalk replacement caused by the tree. Upon a repeat instance, the City repairs the sidewalk. Trees that are causing sidewalk issues are evaluated by the City's Urban Forester. If the tree is deemed to be healthy and should remain the practice has been and continues to be that the sidewalk should be altered to go around the tree. The urban tree canopy is very important to our community. It's preservation and expansion are critical to numerous City Council goals. If the tree is declining or dead, it is put on the schedule to be removed by the Leisure Services forestry crew or a tree removal contractor. The devastating effects of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has quickly ramped up in the last seven years and affected trees across all of Dubuque. The map below shows ash tree removals between 2015-2020. Both Leisure Services and Engineering are involved in addressing the impacts of EAB. Leisure Services currently either hires a contractor or directly performs the work to remove street trees and stumps. With the rapid spread of EAB across the City, there are many street trees and stumps that need to be addressed. Ash trees are declining as is witnessed by the fully and partially dead ash trees seen throughout the community. The dead and dying street trees become a liability for the City if they are not removed. Falling limbs cause damage to vehicles, homes and potentially even people. Ash trees become very brittle once they are completely dead. Therefore, ash tree removal is a high priority for the Leisure Services Department. After the tree removal, Engineering becomes involved to address defects in sidewalks which include heaving of the sidewalks due to the tree's growth when it was alive. Currently, there are more than 400 stumps that need to be removed due both to EAB tree removal and removal of hazardous City street trees due to death or storm related activities. The priority for Leisure Services has been to get hazardous trees down. The remaining stumps, in many cases, are next to sidewalks that are non -compliant which could cause a trip hazard liability to the abutting property owner and City. A backlog of stumps has resulted due to the focus remaining on tree removal. The removal of stumps must be coordinated with the repair of the sidewalk in most locations. In some location's sidewalks need to be removed to remove the stumps. In many locations, sidewalks cannot be properly repaired until stumps are removed, leaving a hazard to the public to exist until Leisure Services forestry crew or a stump removal contractor can get to a particular property. 2 Last summer, Leisure Services hired a contractor to remove stumps and Engineering followed up with notifying property owners to fix sidewalks and hired concrete contractors to repair sidewalks, when necessary. This was very staff intensive effort due to the policy of having abutting property owners repair the sidewalks damaged the first time by the street tree(s). Additionally, the stump contractors can move at a much quicker pace than the sidewalks can be addressed by Engineering. For example, a stump removal contractor may remove a large number of stumps in an area and then Engineering finds it difficult to coordinate with all the different property owners to make the necessary sidewalk repairs in a timely fashion. DISCUSSION Leisure Services and Engineering are proposing that any sidewalk impacted by a City owned tree be replaced/repaired by the City at City expense. This change in policy would allow the Engineering Department to have a combined stump/sidewalk replacement project with the City paying for the sidewalk repairs instead of the abutting property owner the first time and all subsequent times it may occur. The advantage is this allows staff to work with a single contractor to coordinate removal of the stump and timely repair of the sidewalks on a particular project. Combining the stump work and sidewalk replacement (if needed) will allow for a single contractor to address all issues associated with the tree and stump removal. This limits the disruption of pedestrian walkability, utility locate tickets, bid pricing, and staff hours. Our intent would be to bid out 200 stumps for removal this year, in two separate bid packages (100 each). Of the 200 ash tree stumps, it is estimated 40% or 80 of the stumps have hazardous sidewalks in the vicinity of the stump that have yet to be corrected. This would normally result in the homeowner being responsible for the repair of the sidewalk. The typical time it takes Engineering staff to mark hazardous sidewalks, process letters, coordinate finding a contractor if property owner does not cooperate, develop assessment documents, and follow up is four (4) staff hours for each abutting property. Based on 80 locations, this equates to 320 hours or 8 weeks of continuous staff time. On average, if 15 feet of sidewalk needs to be replaced at each stump location at 2020 pricing of $82.38 per square yard. The City's cost for repairing these hazardous walks would cost approximately $44,000. The cost of sidewalk repair for each property/tree site would be approximately $550. The Leisure Services and Engineering Departments are proposing that the City cover the costs of the repair of these hazardous sidewalks for the following reasons: • EAB has made a large impact on the street trees in the City. The tree removal work due to EAB is unprecedented for the City. Other environmental factors and storms also led to removal of many street trees (not ash) in the last 10 years. In many cases the sidewalk needs to be removed due to tree roots heaving the sidewalk and/or the tree stump is so close to the sidewalk that it must be removed to allow for full removal of the stump. 3 • Property owners cannot repair or replace sidewalks until stumps are removed. This leaves noncompliant sidewalks in place increasing the likelihood of injury, damages, and lawsuits. When a sidewalk related injury lawsuit is filed the City is usually named along with the property owner. While the City transfers the liability to the abutting property owner in at least one ongoing case the property owner's insurer has refused the City's tender of defense meaning the City continues to incur legal defense fees even though the property owner will have to indemnify the City for any damages assessed to the City for the injury. When a delay in a sidewalk repair results from the City's delay in removing the stump there is an argument to be made the City should share in the liability. • Many residents have complained about why they are responsible to repair sidewalk caused by a City owned tree. In most cases, the resident did not plant the tree that is causing the issue. Citizens complain of the unfairness of the current policy requiring them to pay for the sidewalk repair. o Please note, there are circumstances where the City did not plant the street tree causing the issue. The research time needed to determine for each tree between the sidewalk and the curb or in the City right of way is time intensive for Leisure Services forestry and Engineering staff. This time for the limited number of circumstances that could prove it was a resident or business tree planting that caused the issue is not a wise use of City staff resources. • Staff have researched other Iowa cities to see what their policies are regarding stumps and sidewalk replacement. These policies are attached to this memo. Cities that were surveyed included Davenport, Iowa City, and West Des Moines. Three cities surveyed repair the sidewalk caused by a tree issue at no cost to the property owner. • Staff will save considerable time in coordinating sidewalk repair and stump removal by not assessing the abutting property owner for the sidewalk related to the stump. Hundreds of hours of staff time will be saved over what normally must occur with issuing special assessments to repair sidewalks related to stumps. • The City already pays for sidewalk repairs if a sidewalk had to be repaired once by the abutting property owner before due to a tree. There are many sidewalk sections near trees that have already been altered once and the City has responsibility to repair the sidewalk in the future. • Sidewalks that are defective but not directly affected by a tree will still be the responsibility of the abutting property owner. This policy change does not affect that responsibility. In the photo below, the City would cover the costs of the few panels of sidewalk directly behind the tree stump and impacted by the stump. The remainder of the defective sidewalk would be the responsibility of the property owner. 4 RECOMMENDATION We recommend approval of the policy revision where the City covers the cost of sidewalk repair/replacement directly impacted by a City owned tree. Sidewalks that are defective but not directly affected by a tree would remain the responsibility of the abutting property owner. BUDGETIMPACT The City currently has City Owned Sidewalk Funds and Tree Removal Funds. The allocations to repair sidewalks and remove trees/stumps for the next few years is as follows: Description FY 21 FY 22 FY 23 Normal Year Sidewalk Construction and $170,000 $100,000 $ 100,000 $50,000 Curb Repair Contract EAB Tree and $295,000 $295,000 $ 250,000 Stump Removal Tree and Stump Removal $75,000 The additional funds in FY 21, 22 & 23 are accommodating the EAB impact on the tree and stump removals and related sidewalk impacts. The far -right column displays a normal budget for City owned sidewalk repair and tree and stump removal. REQUESTED ACTION We respectfully request approval of the sidewalk replacement policy revision related to street tree impacted sidewalk, which includes not assessing the abutting property owner 5 for the sidewalk replacement caused by the former location of a City street tree effective May 17, 2021. Prepared by Luke Steger, Engineering Technician, Jon Dienst, P.E., Marie Ware, Leisure Services Manager cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney Stephen Fehsal, Park Division Manager Phil Grommet, Engineering Technician Kerry Bradley, Engineering Secretary Attach: Examples from Three Cities 0 City of Davenport / Our Community_» Neighborhoods » Sidewalks, ADA Curbs, Driveways & Boulevards)) 50/50 Sidewalk Repair Program Cost Share 50/50 SIDEWALK REPAIR PROGRAM COST SHARE 50/50 Sidewalk Repair Cost Share Program Description/Eligibility/Requirements • Only public sidewalks in the city right-of-way qualify; service walks which run to the house or curb from the city sidewalk are excluded from the program. • Funding is available on a first come first serve basis; some requests/cost shares may be placed on a waiting list for future funds.* • Single-family through three-plex multi -family housing properties are eligible. The program is not available to multi -family properties greater than a three-plex or commercial properties. • Only sidewalk slab(s) that have been determined hazardous and requiring repair/replacement are eligible. Eligible sidewalks include those: • With a 1" or more trip hazard • That are buckling due to tree root growth** • That are settling, with the sidewalk dipping 2" or more • That are tipped, tilted or sloped more than 1" per foot • That are spalled, missing surface, have more than three cracks per 4' x 4' square and show signs of distress • Work must be performed by the city contractor to be eligible for cost -sharing. *On occasion sidewalks may be deemed so hazardous (condemned) that immediate remediation is necessary, and the work ordered to be completed at the property owner's expense. If 50/50 funds are unavailable other funding opportunities may exist with our Community Planning and Economic Development Department. **Sidewalk slab(s) that are buckling due to root growth of a city tree (boulevard tree) are replaced by the city at no cost to the property owner. P Sidewalk Repair Program I City of Iowa City City responsibilities Overwidth sidewalks - If the sidewalk is 8 feet in width, the City will share in the costs to repair the sidewalk. The City will be responsible for one-half the costs to repair the sidewalk. If the property owner is repairing the sidewalk, they must receive approval from the City prior to commencement of repairs. If the City repairs the 8-foot sidewalk, the property owner will be invoiced one-half of the construction costs plus a $25 administrative fee. However, if the damage to the sidewalk can be directly attributable to the adjoining property owner's actions (i.e. a home construction or landscaping project), the property owner will be responsible for the full 8' width. City causes - If the damage to the sidewalk is caused by a City owned item, i.e. a water main valve (not a service valve), a sewer manhole located within the sidewalk, or a tree located with the parkway, the City will take responsibility for the repair of the sidewalk directly as long as the damage is directly attributable to the item. Just because a City -owned item is present does not automatically mean that the item is the cause of the damage. Each situation will be evaluated individually by City staff. Curb ramps - The City is responsible for the maintenance and repair of curb ramps across public streets. For more information, call 319-356-5140. City Government Departments and Divisions Public Works Engineering Sidewalk Repair Program Sidewalk Repair Frequently Asked Questions Construction Project Bids Dodge Street Reconstruction Project Public Storage Units Prohibited in the Public Right -of -Way Road Construction Projects Select Language https://www.icgov.org/sidewalkrepair 3/8 1/8/2021 Sidewalk Program Questions and Answers I West Des Moines, IA Sidewalk Program Questions and Answers The specific area where work is needed on a sidewalk will be marked with white paint. complete the sidewalk work on their own and are encouraged to do so. The City has a list of other sidewalks needing repair in case residents would want to join with neighbors to complete the repair work, or jointly retain a contractor to do the work. The following questions and answers should help you understand the program; however, please contact Public Services at 222-348o, if you have any additional questions. "Why must I pay for irr The State Code of Iowa (Chapter 364.12 and 364.13) and West Des Moines City Code places the responsibility for repair and maintenance of sidewalks on each property owner. More important, however, is the fact that courts have held property owners responsible for injuries when people have fallen on defective sidewalks. Property owners may "Who is responsible for repairing my damaged irrigation system?" Any irrigation system (lines or heads) that are in the public right-of-way are susceptible to damage and are the responsibility of the homeowner to repair. These lines are not approved by the City to be in the public right-of-way and are not part of the utility Iowa One Call System. Often they are in direct conflict with the necessary work. "May I cut or grind Defect A?" A property owner may cut or grind a vertical deflection between two panels until the transition is smooth. "What happens if I sell my property either before or after I receive the final bill for this project?" If a property owner sells their property before the final bill is received it will be up to the property owner and the buyer to determine the best method of handling the estimated amount due. If the property is sold after the final bill is received (and the property owner decided to pay nothing on the amount due) it will again be up to the property owner and the buyer to determine the best method of handling what remains to be paid. "May I mud jack or raise (Defect A) or (Defect B — Sunken Sections) repairs?" Mud jacking is permitted for these repairs unless the panels are already cracked; then it must be replaced. Raised sidewalks must be properly supported with stable suitable fill material. Ldfamaging f trees are damaging the sidewalk?" If the damage to the sidewalk is caused by a tree in the right- e City will repair the sidewalk at no cost to the property owner. If the tree is on private property and the sidewalk then the resident wi e response e or cotes associated to the necessary repair. The trim the necessary tree roots out of the sidewalk corridor. Please contact us as in advance so we can the work. For additional questions or information, please call Public Services at 222-3480. https://www.wdm.iowa.gov/governmentlpublic-services/community-compliance/sidewalk-program-questions-and-answers 1/2