To the Editor:

In the story headlined Wartrace, resident spar over driveway by Terence Corrigan (Times-Gazette, Saturday, Feb. 1), concerning the Dec. 19 Wartrace town hall meeting, the paper stated Eddie Carroll disagrees with the Town of Wartrace over who should pay for repairs to his driveway. This matter had not been discussed with us.

Town Hall had set up a meeting with us for Feb. 20 to discuss this matter. If there was a spar going on, I did not know it. Town Hall had already admitted we had a big water problem and it was not our fault, and they would discuss the driveway on Feb. 20 at the meeting.

My wife and I are very upset at this time. Why were we not at the meeting? Especially with the press being there to speak for ourselves? The Mayor and Aldermen meet on the 4th Monday of the month.

The reference in the article made that I had been there on Dec. 19 and serenaded them in a rich baritone singing The Christmas Song made it seem as though I was sucking up. Everyone knows this is something I have done for years at banks, businesses and doctors offices. The article then makes it look as though the song was a prelude to my flattering Town Hall to repave driveway by reading: (Carroll) seemed pretty sure that the town was going to accept responsibility for the damage to his driveway.

Why was all this discussed and put in the paper without us getting to discuss or offer a rebuttal at the same time? Why schedule to meet with us almost a month later? Our town is in bad shape, is this what things have come to? I think that write up was awful in the way it was handled. Again, I was not aware of a spar but if that is what you want then OK.

Things like this are why there are so many dissatisfied people in the town of Wartrace. You have already admitted the water problem in our yard was the citys fault, why would the driveway not be? We have potholes, cracking, washing away of the pavement from the water running down the driveway from the road, and each side of us. This does the same thing to a driveway as water does to a highway.

Everett and Margaret Carroll

Wartrace

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Letter to the Editor: Wartrace driveway issue (2/7/20) - Shelbyville Times-Gazette

In 2007, water quality concerns in one lake among the (far) more than 10,000 that Minnesota is known for would become the spark that led to the largest stretch of permeable pavement in North America by 2009. Now, officials are hyping permeable pavement a type of pavement that lets water flow through it rather than pooling on top of it as a potential way to reduce ice without using road salt.

What started as one project to improve water quality in Lake Owasso in Shoreview, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb, has since blossomed into a more common practice in the city, landing Shoreview in the international permeable pavement spotlight.

It was designed to solve the stormwater management problem, says Mark Maloney, Shoreviews public works director. We collaborated with the University of Minnesota and private industry, which was a pretty amazing collaboration for the time. We learned that there were suggestions that permeable pavement in colder climates had the potential to be somewhat self-cleaning when it came to snow and ice accumulation.

While permeable pavement is more common in countries like Sweden and has been deployed to manage rain in cities like Portland, its a technology that has been less embraced to manage icy conditions thanks in large part to the extremely low cost of road salt only $70 per ton in Minnesota.

It may be inexpensive, says John Gulliver, a professor and researcher at the University of Minnesotas Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering who specializes in stormwater pollution prevention. What isnt considered, Gulliver says, is the downstream costs of chloride-based road salts, which rust cars and contribute to the erosion of bridges. That cost is up on the order of $1,400 per ton of rock salt, he says. The problem is that cost is distributed to other sources than those laying down the road salt.

While its unlikely permeable pavement will ever completely eliminate the need for road salt, Gulliver sees it as a viable option for expanded use outside of the parking lots, driveways, and other low traffic applications its often limited to in most Minnesota cities today. My opinion is that what were most worried about is ice. With permeable pavement, though, the water moves right through it so you may not have as many ice conditions as we have currently, he says while also advocating for other solutions such as applying heated sand as part of a diverse approach to winter road management.

There are places like Shoreview where they have been putting in a lot of permeable pavement and theyve realized that in some places they dont need costly infrastructure like stormwater sewer systems, Gulliver says.

Shoreview, thus far, is pleased with how its permeable pavement is holding up in winter. After four Minnesota winters of dramatically differing duration, precipitation, freeze-thaw cycles, soil moisture levels, and snowplow events, we are quite pleased with the performance of this pervious concrete roadway/drainage system. It is being used as intended with no unusual operational issues to date, Maloney wrote in 2013. The pervious concrete pavement in the Woodbridge Neighborhood is functioning as intended and still stands as the most successful example of the use of pervious concrete for public roadway infrastructure.

When asked why this project was so successful, Maloney first credits Shoreviews supportive political climate and a demand for environmental considerations among community members before reflecting on how the project was rolled out. One element that stands out in Maloneys mind was the outreach and education efforts the city engaged in.

Since adopting a winter road maintenance policy based on a model created by the St. Paul-based Freshwater Society in the early 2000s, we try to tell the public that we wont be managing your roads the way MNDOT manages freeways. They should expect clear pavement on the freeways, but in a cul-de-sac thats probably not necessary, Maloney says and the same goes for its six permeable pavement locations in residential areas scattered throughout the city.

After Shoreviews first permeable pavement project in 2009, the city sent out mailers to tell neighbors about their permeable streets and what they can do to help it function sustainably, like not blowing dirt into the street. Since then, the city has added five more stretches of permeable pavement as part of larger road reconstruction projects and demand is growing.

During the resident engagement process of a recent street reconstruction, neighbors approached me and said, We hear you did permeable pavement in a neighborhood like ours. Would you consider that here? Maloney recalls.

When it comes to ridding cities of damaging road salt, education can go a long way in Maloneys mind. A lot of local governments are responding with the education of elected officials. Were not too far removed from an age when no one saw any downside to salt.

Cinnamon Janzer is a freelance journalist based in Minneapolis. Her work has appeared National Geographic, U.S. News & World Report, Rewire.news, and more. She holds an MA in Social Design, with a specialization in intervention design, from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Fine Art from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

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How a Twin Cities Suburb Has Led The Way With Permeable Pavement - Next City

Its not just rain drops that wind up in our waterways. Stormwater runoff brings natural and human-made pollutants and deposits them in lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters. The Sophers of Farm Colony in Stanardsville tired of watching the muddy erosion on their property and in the past year their yard became the first Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) project in Greene County.

It was a major gully washer every time it rained, just right through our backyard and it just stayed muddy, said Nancy Sopher. I heard from a neighbor about this program and contacted them and we have just been so pleased.

VCAP provides financial, technical and educational assistance to property owners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed who install eligible stormwater control practices, according to Richard Jacobs, P.E., conservation specialist with the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District that serves Greene County.

It helps those chronic erosion or ponding areas or areas that you just cant get vegetation to grow, Jacobs said. The program provides cost share of up to 75% of the cost.

Eligible practices include conservation landscaping, impervious surface removal, rain gardens, dry swales, rainwater harvesting, vegetated conveyance systems, constructed wetlands, bioretention, infiltration, permeable pavement, green roof and living shorelines.

When we do construction and build our houses and driveways and parking areas, all that hard surface increases the amount of runoff and that increases the speed at which the water flows across the landscape, Jacobs said. So, we try to do the dry swales to slow down the water and minimize erosion. Erosion is going to occur when the waters moving faster than slower. And by slowing it down we allow the water to soak into the ground a bit more and if theres any sediment it helps settle those before they end up in our waterways.

The Sophers did some conservation landscaping using native plants to help stabilize areas so that things can grow along the slope to the side of their driveway.

Into the backyard from the slope, the project includes a dry swale which incorporates two small ponding areas as a way to slow down the water.

The Sophers did the dry swale in 2018 and the driveway slope in 2019.

Its had a noticeable difference, Nancy Sopher said. I mean, we could not walk across our yard because it just stayed muddy anytime it rained.

Bruce Sopher agreed, adding, The turf grass is starting to grow out back now.

Jacobs said before the project grass wasnt able to grow because the water would rush through there, washing the seed and the mulch into the creek below.

VCAP is a statewide program, funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the states Department of Environmental Quality.

Last year we were able to get state funding, so the state took some of their funds from the water quality improvement fund and moved it over specifically for this program, Jacobs said. This year with the General Assembly starting were hoping to get the same amount if not a little bit more.

Nancy Sopher said Jacobs helped the couple choose the best plants for the area, as well.

We worked with a native plant nursery, she said. He provided a lot of good input.

For the dry swale, Jacobs said, they chose the water-loving plants that will tolerate the ponding, such as the Blue Flay Iris, which is a native Virginia plant. The purple and yellow irises are not native. For the steep bank, they included some terrace logs to help the plants get established there, including the New Jersey Tea, Golden Ragwort and Silver sedge.

Native plants typically can tolerate the native soil conditions and the native climate, Jacobs said.

The projects full cost was $15,500 and the cost-share grant covered $11,500.

While its the first project funded in Greene County, there have been about two dozen projects district-wide, which includes the counties of Madison, Orange, Greene, Culpeper and Rappahannock. VCAP is open to residential, commercial and government-owned property, Jacobs said.

If they have impervious surfaces contributing to an area thats having issues of erosion, periodic localized ponding or flooding and they cant keep any cover, any sort of vegetation in those areas, those would be areas that we would look at, Jacobs said.

Due to application deadlines, Jacobs said its not too early to start thinking about your own property now.

The availability of funds is based off of demand and we do have a ranking protocol, Jacobs said. If you dont get funded this time around, if its not an emergency, maybe it could be funded later, in the next round.

Jacobs said contractors interested in learning more about the program should contact him. He said hed like to do trainings here in Greene if there is demand.

Those who think the program is worthy of funding can contact their delegates and senators in the General Assembly now while theyre in session.

Its made all the difference, Nancy Sopher said. Certainly, we couldnt go from one side of our yard to the other without mud boots. You could just see the brown water washing down to the creek.

For more information about VCAP, visit http://www.vaswcd.org/vcap. To request a site visit, contact the district at (540) 825-8591 or email Jacobs at RichardJ@culpeperswcd.org.

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CSWCD helped Greene homeowners stop erosion and paid for 75% of it - The Daily Progress

Fed-up Solihull residents have complained that refuse crews are often leaving wheelie bins blocking the pavement or outside the wrong house.

Criticism about the number of containers left in the middle of walkways in the Lyndon area has prompted calls for council contractors to sharpen up their act.

Ward councillor Kathryn Thomas (Lib Dem) had taken up the issue at last week's Full Council meeting, saying many locals were getting frustrated at the haphazard way that the bins were returned after collections.

She cited a raft of recent complaints made on the Lyndon Residents' Association Facebook page and suggested that the issues brought up by more than a dozen householders fell short of the standards expected.

Resident Sin Davies said: "There are so many rules and regs regarding residents putting out rubbish, yet in our road we have to play hunt the wheelie bin after theyve been emptied. Could be anywhere."

Amanda Wood added: "My bins have been left two houses away from mine, left in the middle of the pavement and left blocking my driveway access on various collection days.

"Glass collection crates get cracked and broken because they throw them back, rather than placing them back."

And Elizabeth Rose said it had been a long-running problem.

"I've been emailed many times to say that supervisors will follow the crew to ensure bins are correctly returned. It lasts two/three weeks then we are back to their old ways again."

Cllr Thomas suggested that the cases highlighted went against the terms set out in the council's waste and recycling charter and asked what could be done to ensure a permanent improvement in standards.

"A safe and appropriate position is not strewn across the pavement, creating issues for people on mobility scooters, in wheelchairs, who are visually impaired or pushing prams or pushchairs," she said.

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"I supported a resident's complaint back in the summer about this very issue and I suspect I'm not alone in this chamber in having raised it."

Responding, Cllr Ken Hawkins, the cabinet member for the environment and highways, said: "It's worth noting that actually there are nine million collections every year in the borough.

"Now I'm not saying we should expect these kind of issues, but you've got to understand with that amount there are going to be some issues now and again."

He said that when concerns were raised, the council's waste and recycling contractor, Amey, would take action to investigate - going out to inspect routes where issues had been flagged up.

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'Hunt the wheelie bin' fury as they're left outside wrong houses in Solihull - Birmingham Live

The Ego Power+ is among newer electric snowblowers that tackle big jobs without gasoline fumes. Theyre powered by battery packs that provide ample range and replenish quickly. (egopowerplus.com)

Shoveling snow is a hassle and potential health hazard, as I discovered when I moved from a high-rise condo into a house decade ago. I hurt my right arm at one point because of all that hard hauling, which Id luckily managed to avoid for most of my life.

So, for the past few winters, Ive been trying out snow blowers. I didnt want to deal with smelly, polluting ones that use gasoline, however, so Ive focused exclusively on electric snow blowers.

These are fun and often effective to use, but do have their shortcomings.

Modern electric snow blowers (and similar contraptions, such as electric lawn mowers) typically work off battery packs that you recharge separately and slide into slots when you are set to get workin.

Though gas-powered snow blowers will typically go farther on a single tank than electric blowers do on a single charge, you can keep additional charged batteries on standby to boost your range.

This article focuses on two electric blowers I tested. I am also adding information about a third blower one of my editors recently bought and has come to like despite a few issues.

The maker of this model claims it is the only cordless snow blower thats as powerful as gas. This is a squishy claim given the wide range of gas blowers on the market, but it is accurate in one sense: The Ego Power+ makes short work of accumulated snow that is up to one foot high.

That is largely due to its robust 56-volt batteries. I have been using the top-end 7.5Ah version of the battery, which packs more of a punch than lesser Ego packs. The mower has slots for two of the batteries, giving me enough power to effortlessly clear my own property along with sidewalks in a one-block radius, or more. The batteries replenish quickly via Egos upright Power+ Rapid Charger.

The Ego Power+ has lots of plastic in its construction, but still feels durable (though only time would truly tell). It is compact and reasonably lightweight, but using it is a major workout because it isnt self-propelled like many gas blowers get ready to feel a bit sore in the morning!

Key features include:

The blower has appeal well beyond its snow-removal features. The Ego Power+ happens to be part of a product ecosystem built around those big batteries.

Ego offers a line of lawn mowers some self-propelled that also harness the power packs. I have tested one of Egos non-propelled mowers, and I like it and it requires only a single 5.0Ah battery. There are also Ego leaf blowers, garden edgers, trimmers, chain saws and more.

Pricing on the Ego Power+ snow blower depends on whether (and which) batteries are included. Home Depot sells the blower for $649, which includes two 5.0Ah batteries with one charger.

For somewhat less challenging jobs, Snow Joe offers a fairly decent blower that gets its juice two ways its battery-powered, and also plugs into an AC outlet for use with an extension cord.

The Ion Hybrid accommodates a single 40-volt, 4.0Ah battery that does not pack as much punch as the Ego one does but is more than sufficient to clear your sidewalk and driveway with power to spare. The battery is smaller and more compact than the Ego ones. So, when testing out this blower, I carried a couple of spare batteries in a backpack to triple my range.

With this blower, I had to be keep my expectations in check. It struggles with snow higher than 6 or 8 inches, and its all but helpless against densely packed or heavy, wet snow. It throws snow only 20 feet or so, and has only an 18-inch clearing width. It is not self-propelled, though it is small enough that this mostly doesnt matter.

Corded power is a nice bonus. AC revs up the blower more than the battery pack typically does, getting you through jobs more quickly. On the other hand, a cord limits range I had to stay on my property and could not go on around-the-block sidewalk-clearing forays.

The manufacturer nails it when it describes this blower as ideal for quick snow pickups on mid-sized driveways and walkways. Its an honest and realistic assessment.

One thing I hated about this blower: The chute rotates electrically via a switch, and not mechanically (though you can brute-force it if you want). I often couldnt get the power turning to work dependably.

Durability might also be an issue. After working the blower hard over several months, I could not get battery mode to keep working reliably though the corded mode was fine.

But the Ion Hybrid is affordable. Amazon and Walmart are offering it online for about $251, including one battery with a charger.

This blower is quite similar in design, functionality and power to the Ego model. I havent used it, but my editor Jaime DeLage recently bought one and gave me his impressions.

Like the Ego, the Flex-Force has a pair of slots to accommodate batteries of various capacities. The blower can run off a single 7.5Ah pack, for instance. My editor opted for a pair of 6.0Ah batteries but found one was sufficient for many jobs.

I do a longer-than-average St. Paul block, plus my bus stop, a corner pedestrian access and a mid-block pedestrian access all on one charge, Jaime said. That includes grinding through some pretty tough plow ridges in the pedestrian ramps. Ive even cleared the pedestrian access and fire hydrant across the street a couple of times (that neighbor just had a baby). Besides having a surprisingly strong motor and long-lasting batteries, it also cleans right down to the pavement, unlike some big gas snow blowers.

Jaime ticked off a few other features:

The blower, like the Ego model, is part of an ecosystem that includes mowers and other tools. The same battery packs run all the tools, Jaime said. But he noted one potential shortcoming with the Toro system.

The optimal temp range for the batteries is 41-104F, which is fine for mowing grass but obviously not ideal for blowing snow, he said. At first I was keeping the batteries and charger in the unheated garage, but I started charging and storing them in the house when they refused to take a charge a couple of times in single-digit temps. The snowblower seems to operate just fine in single-digit temps, but the charger doesnt like it.

(I experienced some Ego Power+ charging issues that also may be related to cold temperatures, and the manual lists 32 to 104 degrees as the optimal charging temperatures, so I plan to emulate Jaime in taking my charging indoors to see if that clears things up.)

He added a caveat: I think the biggest snow Ive tackled was about 4 or 5 inches, so I cant say (the blower is) blizzard-tested yet.

One other shortcoming: The blower is not self-propelled like many gas blowers and electric mowers.

Cost is another potential down side: The blower retails at Home Depot for $849, including two 6.0Ah batteries with a charger, which is $200 more than a similar Ego kit. But Jaime thinks its money well spent.

Its nice to have choices. The Snow Joe model is a reasonably capable snow blower that doesnt break the bank. The Toro blower packs a punch, but it is on the pricey side. Egos Power+ might be the best overall option with performance roughly comparable to that of the Toro at a much lower cost.

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Electric snow blowers tackle big jobs without the gasoline fumes - St. Paul Pioneer Press

February 6, 2020

By LARA ROSE, PAUL DICKOW and HOLLY IOSSOSpecial to the Journal

Volunteer Park is special: Designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1903, the nationally prominent landscape architecture firm that planned Seattles park system, it is one of the most loved and intensively used parks in Seattle. Towering trees, gently rolling lawns, and paths that wind alongside flowering borders provide a range of immersive experiences, allowing visitors to move seamlessly from one area of the park to the next.

The Seattle Asian Art Museum sits at the top of the park on the boulevard above the reservoir, commanding the most significant view over the city.

Although most visitors assume the museum is original, it was added to the park in 1933 an addition strongly protested by the Olmsted Brothers. Nonetheless, the museum landed in the park with a gracious entrance fronting the parks boulevard, and both the park and the museum are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Later additions to the museum left it with a hulking backside, and service to the building had been situated so that visitors arriving from the east on one of the parks historic paths now passed directly through the loading area and up the driveway.

This museum renovation and expansion project raised an important question: Given the substantial change that had already occurred in this area of the park, what is the right way to preserve the original design intent?

Which aspects of the parks evolution should the landscape improvement project focus on: the expansive meadow of the Olmsteds design, or the forest setting that has since grown up around the museum? How should the project address the museums connection to the park? How should the museum take advantage of the parks natural light and beautiful setting while retaining the necessary light and climate-controlled spaces inside?

Walker Macy and Tree Solutions collaborated with the architectural design team and worked closely with the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and numerous community and advisory groups including the Volunteer Park Trust and Friends of Seattles Olmsted Parks to address these questions. Our approach was grounded in an understanding of the parks original design and intent, modifications that occurred over the next century, and patterns of use that deserve to be retained in balance with the museums expansion.

MODERNIZING THE ENTRY

The renovated entrance terrace now provides two universally accessible paths to the museums front door, an important improvement over the existing design. Gently sloped and laid out in graceful curves, the symmetrical paths are inconspicuous and comfortable.

PRESERVING THE PARKS INTERIOR

Early in the design process, we explored several different ideas for the landscape on the east side of the museum, including a small terrace area and more extensive work that would have restored the open lawn in the original Olmsted plan. Eventually, we arrived at an elegant and deliberately understated approach to preserve the parks trees and restore circulation throughout the park.

We designed this area to feel as if it had always been there. We addressed the poor transition from park to museum with human-scaled plantings, additional trees and subtle regrading similar to the original condition. The final design achieves continuity between historic and contemporary forms, preserves the parks grand trees, and restores a cherished footpath to provide intuitive circulation across the park.

SAVING TREASURED TREES

Trees are the heart and soul of Volunteer Park. Majestic cedars, beeches, hemlocks and redwoods reign over the grounds, enchanting newcomers and regular visitors alike. When expansion of the Seattle Asian Art Museum was planned, Tree Solutions was engaged by the design team to ensure that these towering treasures would be preserved.

One of the objectives of the museum renovation was to add a climate-controlled environment that would aid in the preservation of Asian artwork. Our mission was to protect the existing treasures on the outside of the museum.

During design, Walker Macy and Tree Solutions coordinated closely to develop preliminary pavement details that could be adapted to a range of conditions in the field. Tree Solutions determined where the bulk of roots were present and where and how building expansion and accessible pathways could be sited safely. They bridged the gap between design and construction and were heavily engaged in on-site work.

Some of the tree-friendly solutions developed by the design team and Tree Solutions included:

Preservation of a 53-inch-diameter beech tree that takes center stage for museum visitors, viewable through a wall of windows on the second floor of the addition.

Creation of an ADA ramp using drilled piles for support rather than a traditional footing to minimize impacts to structural roots.

Modification of finished grades during installation for the new gravel footpath through the park, which minimized root cuts.

Removal of an asphalt path beneath a 66-inch-diameter copper beech tree (a heritage tree that is the largest of its kind in Seattle). The soil beneath the tree had been compacted previously from maintenance vehicles and pedestrians. Following the path removal, the soil was decompacted using compressed air, while organic matter was incorporated throughout the area.

During the project, the scope expanded to include path improvements beyond the museums limit of work, mitigating for park real estate given over to the expanded museum footprint. Walker Macy upgraded existing paths in the greater Volunteer Park circulation system, realigned non-original paths to better align with the original Olmsted park plan, and added a new path where a historic one had been lost, working closely with Tree Solutions to limit impact to the parks large trees.

When the museum opens this month, it will sit amidst a beautiful natural setting that is the result of many hours of work aimed at making the landscape appear effortless and untouched. Take a moment to consider the trees, stroll through the park in bloom, and admire the way the museum has opened up to bring the experience of the park inside.

Lara Rose is a principal and landscape architect who leads Walker Macys Seattle office. Paul Dickow is Walker Macys marketing director. Holly Iosso is a senior consulting arborist at Tree Solutions.

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Seattle DJC.com local business news and data - Construction - Protecting the treasures outside the museum - Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

LEBANON, Ohio Four generations of Renee Forresters family have worshiped at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Watching the 156-year-old structure disappear in flames Dec. 13, 2017, made her stomach turn.

It was very emotional, she said Monday night. Just thinking about it, I get emotional."

She and other worshipers have spent their Sundays since at a storefront church seating about 30 people. The Rev. Karen Schaeffer predicts theyll soon be able to return home.

It will be a new home, she added the original building wasnt salvageable, and theyll be using insurance money to begin construction. But it will be a permanent one.

And it will be built on a plot of land once owned by Forresters grandfather.

The city bought the property, and the familys been wanting to get it back so we can build a house, she said.

Instead, it will be the site of the new church. Forrester said she thinks thats even better.

Just to know that were on my grandpas property is everything, she said.

Schaeffer said her presiding elder told her to think big when the congregation began discussing the construction of a new church. The plan as of Monday night was to start with a new sanctuary and expand over time, creating spaces for classes and sports as well as worship.

Its going to be wonderful to worship in a new space, and also because were thinking of it as being a place thats open to the community, she said. Were really excited about just opening our doors and welcoming people in every single day of the week.

The two years since the fire have been painful, she added, but theyve also been an opportunity for Bethel AMEs community to grow, with members forming closer bonds with each other and community groups forming new friendships with the church.

While we loved the building and we mourn its loss, what has happened in the interim is that weve been surrounded by love, she said. Its just been a miraculous journey.

Continued here:
Over two years after fire, Bethel AME is ready to begin building a new home - WCPO Cincinnati

The city of Plano is planning to hold a bond referendum in 2021 that would fund infrastructure projects for the city's roads, parks and facilities. (Daniel Houston/Community Impact Newspaper)

Plano Budget Director Karen Rhodes-Whitley told council members Feb. 10 the city expects the new bond package to total somewhere between $300 million and $350 million.

The projects would be selected by the city in consultation with a committee of residents and ultimately submitted to voters for approval in the May 1, 2021, election, Rhodes-Whitley said.

Plano voters approved $44.7 million in bond-funded projects in 2019. The proposed bond referendum for next year would also potentially exceed the $220.6 million package approved in 2017.

Much of Planos infrastructure was built in the 1970s and 1980s, when the city grew from a sparsely populated 18,000 to a bustling 129,000. When the city proposed its 2017 bond, Plano Director of Engineering Caleb Thornhill said that the city would likely see maintenance costs continue to rise as this infrastructure network continues to age.

You factor in the age of these roads and then you factor in the increased traffic, Plano Director of Engineering Caleb Thornhill said in 2017. As the years have gone on, these roadways have seen a large increase in traffic from the growth in Plano, but also the surrounding communities.

The list of projects funded by the 2021 bond will take shape in the coming months as city staff works with the committee of residents to narrow down the list. The city is expected to present a list of recommended projects to council members in October, Rhodes-Whitley said.

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Plano weighing 2021 bond referendum that could fund more than $300M in infrastructure projects - Community Impact Newspaper

When California-based C.W. Driver Cos.began work on the new 94,000-square-foot K-8 Cadence Park School campus in Irvine in 2016, the overall construction costs came in at $475 per square foot.

But in 2019, as the firm started mapping out the construction of Heritage Fields School No. 3, another K-8 campus for the Irvine Unified School District, costs had surged to $598 a square foot.

Thats a jump of 26% in just three years, and it echoes a trend experienced around the country.

Over the last few years, the cost increase per square foot has been abnormally high, said Jonathan Keene, senior project manager at C.W. Driver, which specializes in K-12 and higher education construction. Weve seen abnormally high increases in labor costs as well as huge increases in material costs like structural steel.

School construction costs aren't just rising in high-priced locales like California. From Maryland to Washington State, school and university construction projects are seeing cost increases that are forcing school boards and university trustees to reconsider their original plans or go back to the drawing board altogether.

In an extreme example at St. Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools, cost estimates on 18 projects grew by more than 60%between 2016 and 2019, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press newspaper.

In some of the bigger districts, where they thought they could do 30 schools, theyre now saying we can only do 18, said Mary Filardo, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based 21st Century School Fund, a nonprofit that supports and advocates for improved school infrastructure nationally. Theyre definitely feeling it.

On a national basis, school construction costs now range from a low of $230 per square foot for a high school in Nashville, to a high of $558 in New York, according to construction cost consultant Cummin. Dan Pomfrett, Cummins chief forecaster, said costs in the sector are up around 15%over the last three years. While thats in line with other sectors of commercial construction, schools unique designs can lead to higher overall price tags.

Add in a gym, science building or magnet school, and it goes up from there, Pomfrett told Construction Dive. Theres a lot of sticker shock.

Higher construction costs are being amplified at the university level, too,especially as institutions compete for a shrinking number of enrolled students.

We're really seeing an arms race in higher education right now, said Ripley Bickerstaff, director of business development at Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction, which specializes in university projects.He points to two-story recreation centers with hanging, inclined running tracks and 360-degree motion-capture systems in health sciences departments.

Whatever it's going to take to recruit students and get their enrollment numbers up, thats what they want," he said.

Like other sectors in commercial construction, labor and material costs are playing an increasingly larger role in development costs. School boards appetite for technology has also contributed, as has the length of the current economic expansion. Schools longer lifespans, robust structural specifications and more specialized indoor air quality requirements all come into play as well.

For example, at Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest school district in Virginia, assistant superintendent Jeff Platenberg said that HVAC and mechanical systems at schools are more expensive because of changing perspectives of childrens unique physical needs.

Air inflow and the conditioning of air have more stringent requirements, because you're dealing with children, and children breathe at a more rapid rate than adults, said Platenberg. He also noted that stormwater management requirements, due to schools large tracts of playing fields, recreation courts and expansive roofs, also drive up costs.

Given the length of the current economic expansion, schools are now building during the upside of the cycle, whereas traditionally, educational institutions tended to build when the market was down and costs were more favorable, said Tony Schmitz, an architect at Kansas City-based Hoefer Wysocki Architecture, whose portfolio includes more than 1.9 million square feet of education facilities. But we've been in an up economy for so long now, they are building in an up cycle, which leads to an uptick in construction costs," he said.

In addition, theres the ballooning amount of technology and automation thats going into todays schools to make sure they will provide students with the tools they need well into the future.

With the increased focus on technology, science and the overall student experience, the projects we build today look much different than the ones we did a decade ago, said Tony Church, executive vice president of operations, at St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos. Some of our K-12 projects are more complex and costly than the higher-ed projects weve completed recently.

Security is also driving up costs, with electronic access control becoming more common. Defensive design elements, such as wing walls for students to hide behind in case of a lockdown, also contribute,Filardosaid.

Against that backdrop, schools are dealing with the same labor issues as other sectors of commercial construction.

You literally have a workforce that will walk off the job in the middle of the day to go down the street where somebodys paying 25 cents more an hour, said Schmitz. The labor force bounces around daily.

Its also increasingly hard to get subs to bid on jobs, Bickerstaff said.

We used to have six mechanical guys looking at a job, and now you'll be lucky to get two or three, he told Construction Dive. They're booked. And for that reason, you've basically got two guys competing over this job, so youre going to see a 10%increase right there, just because there's nobody else to do it.

Thats a factor that impacting all facets of construction.Construction managers are being realistic about what it costs to fill these positions, and as a result, customers are seeing higher bid prices, said Michael Regan, project management practice leader at Middletown, N.J.-based engineering firm T&M Associates.

At any given time, there are three times as many jobs on the street as there were ten years ago, he said. We are in a bidders market."

To deal with the rising costs, contractors and their subs are turning to various strategies, including writing cost escalation clauses into contracts.

Contractors need to do a lot more today to protect themselves from rising costs, including building in cost escalators or fuel surcharges to their contracts, according toIan Shapiro, a CPA and co-leader of the real estate and construction practice in the Miami office of tax and accounting consultancy BDO.

When costs do escalate beyond expectations, value engineering becomes a contractors best friend. At the Performing Arts Complex of Woodbridge High School inIrvine, California, C.W. Driver shaved $2 million off the numbers by only using shot-blast concrete block on the exteriors, instead of throughout the building, while re-drawing window and door openings to line up with the factory measurements of whole blocks to reduce the cutting needed in the field.

But while material prices can be tied to commodity indices, labor costs are still an "X factor," the proverbial moving target that contractors need to set a bead on early. Key to that is having a binding, detailed bid schedule up front, as is holding subs to it for the scheduled duration of the project, saidSean Edwards, Chief Operating Officer of the education arm at Boston-based Suffolk Construction, which is currently working on projects at Northeastern and Boston University.

We have a plan and control process to bring trade partners on as early as the preconstruction phase, he said.That way, we can all work on the same design alongside the architects and owners to better predict constructability issues that can drive up costs before they happen.

Key to the process are detailed check-ins with the whole team every two weeks, he added.

Others hone in on the labor issue by making sure theyre the contractor of choice for their subs. Companies are getting creative to pay subcontractors a lot quicker, to help build loyalty with their subs, Shapiro said. Sometimes, for that prompt payment, they may even get a little cost reduction.

At Fairfax County Public Schools, Platenberg strives to be a client of choice, too.We pay on time to keep the blood flowing in the arteries, Platenberg says. That keeps people focused.

Read more:
Making the grade: Why school construction costs are climbing and projects are stalling - Construction Dive

DUBLIN, Ga. On Sunday, a Dublin church held their final service in their 100-year-old sanctuary.

Blue Water Baptist Church has to find a new home, as the Georgia Department of Transportation prepares to widen Highway 441.

"We're looking at it being demolished real soon," said Tony Bowman, the Chairman of the Board of Deacons.

He said they've known it was coming for a long time.

"This church in particular has known that the widening project would take the church for close to 40 years now," Bowman said.

Temporary plastic chairs replaced century-old pews, as they emptied out the church on Saturday.

"It was pretty emotional, I mean obviously you have some folks who have a lot of history here. Their families have come through this church," said Bowman.

WMAZ

The church was established in 1839, but the physical building wasn't built until 1921.

Now they have almost 300 people in their congregation, including active, inactive, and home-bound members.

Bowman said his whole family was baptized there.

"We keep reminding ourselves and our congregation, the church is not a building. It's the people within the congregation," he said.

Adam Hobbs has been a member since he was 11-years-old.

"I got married in this church. Ive got three little boys that had baby dedications here. Two of them have been baptized here. One of them last Sunday," Hobbs said.

He said they had tissues ready at Sunday morning's 11 o'clock service.

"The service wasnt about the church being torn down. The service this morning was exactly who the church is. Its not this building. The service this morning revolved around us being together, staying faithful, always turning to God and that hes in control, and its going to work out the way he wants it to work out," Hobbs said.

He said they will build on the 10 acres of donated land almost directly across the street, an area GDOT can't build on because of a cemetery.

"We've been working with them to try to negotiate with them, work with them and prepare for the future," said Bowman.

GDOT told 13WMAZ in an email the project spans four miles from Pinehill Road to State Route 117.

"The church was one of the condemnations as we could not reach an amicable settlement. Since the church is a relocation, the expected date of vacating, after several extensions, is Feb. 15, 2020. The department bears the cost of demolition, and the contract will be bid out," said Kyle Collins with GDOT.

Some members of the church feel they are not being compensated properly for the move and the construction of an entirely new building.

Hobbs said Turkey Creek Baptist Church is loaning them their sanctuary until their new building is finished. Both Hobbs and Bowman said at this point, they don't know how long it will be until they have a permanent place to call home.

"The church is the people, and no matter where we go, we're gonna have church," Hobbs said.

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Excerpt from:
100-year-old Dublin church to be torn down as Highway 441 expands - 13WMAZ.com