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2020 06 25 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN June 25, 2020 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Session on June 25, 2020, at 5:21 P.M., in the Hullun Conference Room, City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Laura Alvarado Council Member Robert Hoskins Council Member Charles Johnson Council Member Charles Presley Council Member Heather Betancourth Council Member David Himsel Council Member Brandon Capetillo Mayor Rick Davis City Manager Karen Horner Interim City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Clerk Keith Dougherty Sergeant at Arms Mayor Capetillo convened the June 25, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:21 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member Johnson who arrived at 5:35 P.M. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Discuss the reconstruction and widening of Garth Road. Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery presented the item and stated that staff and council have been talking about this project for a while, in fact, this has been in the works for the past five or six years, but was really at the last Council retreat this past year that this project was made a priority for the city. Mr. Woolery noted that he would go through some of the project's history and will then get into a little bit of where the project is now, the estimated costs, and the path forward. Mr. Woolery noted that this project originally went to H-GAC and was approved as a road project back in 2015. The original request was for Garth Road from I-10 to State Highway 146, and was worth at $20.9 million; most H-GAC projects are going to be an eighty/twenty-point split, eighty percent federal funding and twenty percent local funding. He stated that the project's justification was a little bit different at the time and noted that the current average daily traffic counts along the quarter were already very high, and based on the City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 2 of 7 city's growth patterns, the traffic congestion will significantly increase by 2024. Staff looked at not only traffic counts, but what happens at these intersections, which is where the congestion typically piles up. Mr. Woolery stated that without the proposed improvements planned for Garth, there would be seven intersections along the corridor that would have an F-level of service by 2020, with an "F-level of service", being the lowest rating; i.e. gridlock Mr. Woolery noted that there were over four hundred accidents per year along this corridor and it has since increased over the years. He noted that although, there have been some modifications along the corridor, that number probably has not gone down and it is also very clear that there is a need for better walking and biking corridors all along Garth Road. Mr. Woolery noted that staff has really tried to make this project work and so hired a firm to create an analysis of what it would take to make this project a reality, and results show a total construction cost of roughly $86.1 Million. He noted that this amount does not include the displacement cost and contingency cost. Mr. Woolery noted that right now, the City has a 30% contingency built in for a project like because it has so many unknown, and for street reconstruction, there needs to be a pretty significant contingency included in the project costs. Council Member Betancourth asked why this project was not built when it was approved in 2015. Mr. Woolery noted that there were two main factors: (1) when a project is approved, it does not always mean that the funding is immediately available. He noted that a lot of times, if the project is scheduled in the out years; about 3-years or so, then technically, this project should be under construction now. Council Member Hoskins stated that this project was on hold because the right people were not on the bus. He stated that with Frank Simoneaux and Nick Woolery representing Baytown on the H-GAC committees, things are getting done and Baytown is getting the attention it needs and deserves. Mr. Woolery noted that there are really three primary reasons why you see a cost difference from twenty million from 2015 to eighty-six point one million today, to include increased drainage requirements being probably the biggest. Mr. Woolery noted that since Harvey in 2015, and the impact of the water on the road, the project could not meet the drainage by just adding a lane of concrete on each side of the road; it is just not possible, and so, really the only way to do this project is to completely reconstruct the street. He noted that this change is going to drive up the cost but in the long term, for our citizens, that really is a good thing, now that Garth Road is in such horrible shape, from a condition standpoint. Council Member Betancourth asked how Garth Road is right now, what is the general delta if the road is solely reconstructed, does it go up or does it go down? Kimley-Horn Engineer Connie Curtis stated that the center line of the road should generally remain where it is and so it may be raised a cinch, but when considering the challenge in any redesign is really in how the road will be tying into the driveways on each side. She further noted that the original intent for the twenty million dollars was to just place lanes on the outside, and not touch the pavement in the middle, but when a complete reconstruction is undertaken, there is an ability to change where the center line of the road is, and that will shift around a bit, but generally, there is not going to be a significant change. Ms. Curtis stated that one of the things that they were charged with on the design was to reduce the flooding on Garth Road, which is why there is an increased requirement City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 3 of 7 to deal with a hundred -year flood to a ten-year flood, by reducing pooling and help keep the middle lanes open. She noted that this lowering and raising of the road increases costs but it is there to provide more resiliency on Garth, which means bigger boxes are needed to be placed under the road. Mr. Woolery noted when a street it reconstructed, everything kind of changes, so the other factor that will increase costs is inflation, he noted that the twenty million number was not really accurate back in 2015, although it had some of the drainage stuff, it was primarily pavement. About six months ago, the staff started working with H-GAC with the updated project and $80 million price tag, and took some requests to the TIP committee and it was not received well. He noted this is not something that other cities want to see because when Baytown gets money, it is taking money away from them. So, staff went back to the drawing board with H-GAC staff and came up with what staff believes is a fair plan to Baytown and the region, and it is to phase the project. Mr. Woolery noted that in the phasing plan, which was developed by Kimberly -Horn, you will see it is mainly based on what works from the drainage standpoint. Mr. Woolery noted that in the City's request to H-GAC, staff thought it was reasonable and fair to the city and the other regional partners, to try and fund Phases A and B, which goes from I-10 to just south of Archer Road. He noted that the City has a request in committee and tomorrow is really the big day; the City will know if its request to add twenty point seventy-nine dollars in funding, sixteen point six in federal, four point one the City is approved. Mr. Woolery noted that as he mentioned before that number does not include utility relocation, whether it is water and/or wastewater. He noted that when a street is reconstructed, typically, those utilities are going to be messed with, and in this case, it will be a fairly significant cost, and then the electrical and telecom reconfiguration as well. Mr. Woolery noted that the other commitment that was made to the regional partners was that the design should be a hundred percent on the city; this was actually beneficial for the City beyond just helping to keep the cost as twenty point seven. It also sets the City up to where it can design the project a little bit easier, because when there is federal money involved, there are a number of bureaucracies that have to take place and the City paying for the entirety of the design makes things a little easier. It also allows the City to potentially fund future phases sooner, so that if there are other funding opportunities, whether federal grants, a potential partnership with Harris County, whatever it may be, if the phases can be designed faster, there is potential to get other money from other partners. Mr. Woolery also stated that the other thing to note is that the scope of the project was revised, so originally, the idea was to widen Garth Road all the way to SH 146, and this is just not feasible to do because it would destroy businesses and homes along the way. He noted that south of Baker Road; there is just no room to widen Garth Road on both sides, so this was removed from the scope of the project. He noted that the City will still complete some access management techniques in that section to improve safety. He noted that staff will look at the street conditions at the time, whether this area needs to be reconstructed or whether a different technique like the one used on North Main can be used instead. City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 4 of 7 The Council requested that the staff look at the addition of pedestrian and bike paths on these sections. Public Works and Engineering Director Frank Simoneaux noted that the staff s direction was to try and place the pedestrian/bike paths on one side of the road. He noted that on the north side, staff is adding a trail on one side and the sidewalk on the other because there is enough right-of-way (ROW) to do that, but because the area south of Baker Road does not have enough ROW, staff is going to try to widen the pedestrian/sidewalk on one side. Mr. Woolery noted that they have added two additional travel lanes: one in each direction, center mediums will be added, which is going to be a big change for people, but in order to make Garth Road a safe roadway, that has to be done. Mr. Simoneaux noted that the greater the ride in and ride out and circulation, the better traffic is going to flow. One of the problems on Garth Road is the ability to turn in 180 directions; every time a person drives out onto Garth Road it creates a lot of backup and a lot of conflict. Mr. Woolery noted that this will be something for people to get used to, but yes, restricting people from freely crossing, right now two lanes, they will be crossing three plus lane traffic, so there will be some changes all along Garth Road. It is important to note that when Garth Road was developed, way before the City had some of the current access management standards, it left some businesses with two or three driveways, which is not a best practice, so this project will help eliminate some of these un-needed driveways. Mr. Woolery noted that one really significant thing to have is that of geometric improvements and adding capacity at the main intersections along Garth Road, which are Cedar Bayou, Baker Road and Rollingbrook, with Rollingbrook and Baker being two of the City's worst intersections. Mr. Woolery noted that the new intersections will have all the smart technology and black paint coated infrastructures, and as Frank mentioned, it would also include a ten -foot pedestrian and bike trail added on the east side of the road. Mr. Woolery also noted that there will be a five-foot section on the west side of the road with the bus stops and the shelters being redone along the corridor. Mr. Woolery also noted that the City will have to reconfigure the electrical and telecom along the corridor, will look at the addition of some medians, landscaping and beautification perspective. He noted that the medians will be limited as even on the north side of Garth, there is not a lot of ROW to work with, so there will be some added and the ones that are currently there, will be landscaped. In response to a question from Council Member Alvarado, City Engineer Matt Johnson noted that the staff will work with the telecom companies to expand hotspots and coverage as much as possible. He further noted that they will try and work with interested companies to get the planned telecom infrastructure in the design up front because we do not want to mess with the aesthetic of the project down the road. Mr. Woolery noted that in terms on of the project's phasing, the plan would be to do Phases One and Two, as previously mentioned, will be from I-10 and just south of Archer. If staff can get it going, the idea would be to start it late 2021, maybe early 2022, and then look at the future City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 5 of 7 phasing of construction. Staffs idea would be to seek as much outside funding as possible, get things designed, and hopefully, get things going even faster, but this is probably, at this point, a more realistic timeline, and kind of the plan that will go out to H-GAC. Project Phases Projected Construc on Phase 1: Late 2021 I10 to Hunt Phase 2: Late 2021 Hunt to South of Archer Phase 3: 2024 South of Archer to North of CBL Phase 4: 2025 North of CBL to North of Riceland Phase 5: 2026 North of Riceland to South of Baker Phase 6: 2028 South of Baker to SH146 Mr. Woolery showed the Council a video of a flyover Garth Road showing what the road will look like with the proposed reconstruction. Mr. Woolery stated that the breakdown of the three different project scenarios for Phases 1 & 2 are the following: City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 6 of 7 W/WW Relocation $5,120,700 $5,120,700 $5,120,700 Elec / Telecom Reconfiguration $741,000 $21447,900 $23,896,600 Total $44,124,600 $45,831,500 $67,280,200 City Portion $13,514,280 $15,221,180 $36,669,880 Mr. Woolery noted that the construction number is the only thing that is still funding eligible; again, that is basically 80% in federal funding and 20% from Baytown. He noted that the cost of the water and wastewater relocation and the electrical and telephone reconfiguration are 100% the responsibility of the City; this does include inflation. Mr. Woolery stated that he wanted to talk about the electrical and telecom component and showed the Council three different pictures of what an intersection would look like with the three levels of changes: (1) the cleaning up of wires, (2) the cleaning up of wires and addition of cement poles, and (3) the burying of all wires underground. He noted that there is a big difference in cost between option 2 and 3. The Council discussed the details and differences between the three scenarios and identified that scenario 2 seemed like a more fiscally responsible option that gave the city more bang for its buck. Mr. Woolery noted that the construction would begin in the Fall of 2021 or early 2022 and it would require a CO issuance this year. This would mean that Phases 1 and 2 would be done between 2023 to 2024. b. Discuss any or all of the agenda items on the City Council Regular Meeting Agenda for May14, 2020. The City Council briefly discussed the agenda item related to the declarations of covenants, conditions and restrictions for Gateway 10 Business Park. Mr. Davis noted that the staff has worked hard with the developer to put together the declarations for this development. He noted that the document was included in the Council's agenda packet and is very comprehensive. Some the document highlights include green space buffers of 390 feet, 30 feet dedication of right of way, a maximum height of the building to 45 feet, which is still five feet below the City's line of limit. Mr. Davis noted that there are still quite a bit of restrictions on what can be done to the front two buildings; they cannot be lay down yards, or any kind of industrial look; the staff is trying to City Council Regular Work Session Minutes June 25, 2020 Page 7 of 7 encourage larger footprints, a maximum of 50,000 square feet for each building located at the front of the property with the hope of bringing on professional offices in that area. Mr. Davis noted that while the development would continue to be zoned as Light Industrial (LI), it would be limited to more of a General Commercial (GC) feel because of the declarations. The Council discussed some of the issues that the residents had submitted and they include: • Request for some kind of stone and wood fencing along Sjolander Road; • Request for sidewalks along the development; • Masonry and constructions requirements; • Landscaping; • Drainage and stormwater runoff concerns; and • Traffic congestion. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Capetillo adjourned the June 25, 2020, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:22 P.M. Leticia Brysch, City Clerk City of Baytown e % tp MOlA