HomeMy WebLinkAboutA002 - Response to Somerset Memo of February 10 � s
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June 2, 1999
Mr. Erb Hunziker
Hunziker& Associates
105 South 16th St.
Ames, IA 50010
Dear Erb:
The City Manager has indicated that you are awaiting a response to your February 1 Oth letter to
the City Council. I want you to know that the letter was distributed to each Council member after
it was first received. Since no Council person took the initiative to refer this matter to the staff, I
am assuming there is no support for your position.
After reading your letter, it appears that you are making the unique argument that the City
somehow owes you for the twelve months of interest incurred on your investment at Somerset. I
am not sure how you can definitively tie the completion of Stange Road with your debt obligation.
I would offer the following observations regarding the issues raised in your letter:
Delays In Construction
The Stange road project was budgeted in 1997-98 -- which covers July 1, 1997,
through June 30, 1998. Stange Road was opened for traffic in November 1998. It
is not uncommon for major construction projects to extend to the end of a
construction season and beyond the fiscal year in which they are budgeted. As you
will recall, the Spring of 1998 was very wet -- which delayed the completion of the
City's projects as well as developers' projects that year.
In addition, no direct access is allowed onto Stange Road in the Somerset
development, so all properties have useable frontage on other streets. You can
access and construct buildings on all of your property without the construction of
Stange road.
Not Having Plans Prepared
The City contracted with your engineer, Bishop Engineering, to do the Stange Road
design, since there was an extensive level of integration needed between the
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Mr. Erb Hunziker
June 2, 1999
Page Two
subdivision and Stange Road. We agreed that this arrangement would result in a faster
design phase than if the work was done by our engineering staff.
High Priority for 13th Street Project
Manatts was the contractor on both the Stange Road and 13th Street projects. The
Public Works staff did direct Manatts to give 13th Street a higher priority based the
10,000 vehicles per day on that entrance to the City. However, because of the
staging, Manatts was able to complete the two projects in the same construction
season.
Sanitary Sewer
"As-built" records are typically relied upon for preliminary design work. For more
detailed project design, it is standard practice for the actual flow lines to be
determined in the field by survey. I don't understand your suggestion that the
failure to verify field conditions by the Developer's engineer is the responsibility of
the City.
Again, please accept my apology for the delay in responding to your letter. Based on the lack of
action on the part of the Council, I believe my comments reflect their opinion on this matter.
Since r ly,
Ted Tedesco
Mayor
/lw
c: Steven L. Schainker, City Manager
City Council Members