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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 05-17-2011- Information Item 1ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Director Administration ®~~°°` ~ ~°°~~,, (919) 245-2575 131 W. Margaret Ln. (919) 644-3002 (FAX) '2 P. O. Box 8181 www.co.orange.nc.us ~° ~~ s Hillsborough, NC 27278 t~~/ ~~Y°~`P .'. ~.3.,~}f MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners COPIES: Frank Clifton, County Manager FROM: Craig Benedict, Planning and Inspections Director Kevin Lindley, PE, Staff Engineer DATE: May 10, 2011 SUBJECT: Central Efland and Northern Buckhorn Sewer Expansion Project Update As was mentioned in the previous update (February 15, 2011), the permit application package was delivered to the NC Construction Grants and Loans Office on September 27, 2010. As of May 2, 2011, we have received permit approval and can move forward with bidding the construction of the project. State Revolvin~Loan Financing (SRF~ Approximately two-thirds of the construction cost of this project will be paid for by SRF loans. We are on schedule with the SRF loan application timeline, which required approval of our plans and specifications by May 2, 2011. As mentioned above, this deadline has been met. The application for the SRF loan has been turned in and will be reviewed at the next Local Government Commission meeting in May. Assuming the loan application is approved, we should receive a loan offer package from the State approximately two weeks after their meeting on May 10, 2011. This loan offer package should come before the BOCC at the last meeting in June for approval. The next deadline in the SRF program is Authorization to Award by August 1, 2011. We must submit to the State around the first week of July the bids we have received along with a verification that all easements needed for the project have been obtained. Since the bids have to be out for at least 30 days, we will likely be letting the bid package in mid- to late- May. Status of Grants The EPA regional office has given us official notice of award of the two EPA Special Appropriations grants that were earmarked in 2003 and 2005. These two grants will provide approximately one-third of the construction costs of the Central Efland/ Northern Buckhorn project. Easement Acquisition At this stage, all property owners from whom we need easements in both the Efland and Northern Buckhorn area have been contacted by County staff. Negotiation of the easement agreements is underway and some of the easements have been obtained. As was mentioned above, all easements have to be acquired by July 1, 2011. Staff is currently planning to bring all the easements to the BOCC for final approval at the June 23, 2011 meeting. Railroad Right-of--Way Licenses The process of obtaining licenses to install a portion of the sewer line in the railroad right-of--way is complete for Efland. Our license applications for areas of occupancy in two areas in Central Efland have been accepted and approved by the NC Railroad Company and Norfolk Southern. We are in the process of obtaining a license for occupancy in the Buckhorn area along Washington Street. There was some thought given to moving that portion of the sewer line out of the Railroad right-of--way, but given the time constraints imposed by the SRF loan, the decision has been made to resume the process to obtain a railroad occupancy license for the sewer line along Washington Street. Construction Oversight The original engineering consulting contract for this project included a construction oversight component. However, the original project concept was that all of the Buckhorn sewer and Efland sewer extension work would take place at the same time, as one construction project. What actually happened was the Southern portion of the Buckhorn project that was meant to serve Gravelly Hill Middle school was put on a fast track in order to extend utilities to the new school in a timely manner. Much of the money available for construction oversight in the original contract was used for the construction of the South Buckhorn water and sewer extension. The original consultant has submitted a proposal to provide construction phase services for the upcoming sewer extension project. Staff feels that this proposal is extremely costly and would like to open up the possibility of using another firm by issuing a Request for Qualifications for construction phase services. The decision on who will provide construction phase engineering services and the fee negotiations for this will have to occur concurrently with the construction bid process. In other words, we will need to have an engineering consultant ready to provide construction phase services at least by the time the BOCC approves the construction contract in August 2011. Next Stens Due to the application process for SRF loan funds, the project is constrained to a specific timeline, as briefly mentioned above. The next deadline is to put the project out for bids by mid- to late-May 2011. This would allow the bids to be out for at least thirty days and give time to compile the results to submit to the State for Authorization to Award. The Authorization to Award from the State Construction Grants and Loans office must be issued no later than August 1, 2011. The last pre-construction deadline is the award of the construction contract, which must occur by September 1, 2011. Staff will be bringing the construction contract before the BOCC for approval at the first meeting in August following the summer recess.