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ST9902-CS060503Page 1 of 5 Ken Griffin -Fwd: RE: West Sandy Lake From: Ken Griffin To: Gary Nix; Roy Osborne Date: 5/3/2006 8:49 AM Subject: Fwd: RE: West Sandy Lake CC: Gregory Peck Gary Dallas County is working to widen Sandy Lake at Whispering Hills and they have closed Whispering Hills at Sandy Lake for this week. Because of the closure, vehicles are using Georgian Drive to bypass the intersection. The HOA President of Georgian Place has requested additional enforcement during this week (see included email). Thanks for your help. Ken Griffin Mr Peck, I have forwarded your request to Roy Osborne, Police Chief and Gary Nix, Deputy Chief. ken g »> "Gregory Peck" <g.peck@verizon.net> 5/2/2006 6:46 PM »> Mr. Griffin, I have made a request through the request service part of the website, but, I thought I would try you as well. Would it be possible to assign a motorcycle unit between 144 and 156 Georgian Drthrough the rest ofthe week. As you would expect, we are seeing a pick up in the traffic volume and the speed. A little enforcement effort would go a long way. Thanks, Greg From: Ken Griffin [mailto:kgriffin~ci.coppell.tx.us] Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 9:04 AM To: Gregory Peck Cc: Jim Witt Subject: RE: West Sandy Lake Mr. Peck file://C:1Documents and SettingslradloolLocal SettingslTemplXPgrpwise144586EAOCity_... 9/11/2009 Page 2 of 5 The short answer to the development of the final drawings is: The final drawings should be late this year or early next year. The long answer is: The remaining section of Sandy Lake from Coppell Road North to Denton Tap has been broken in two projects. The limits of the two new projects are: 1) Coppell Road North to Coppell Road South; and 2) Coppell Road South to Denton Tap. The reason to break the project into two projects is that we have received some federal money to assist in the construction. Federal money is both good and bad. The good part is you actually can offset some of the cost. The bad part is you have to redesign the project to federal standards and then let the federal government control the project. We only received $800,000 and the federal government wanted to take over the entire project from Coppell Road North to Denton Tap. This was not acceptable to the City because the increase in cost to redesign and the increase in actual construction cost would far exceed the $800,000. (Our other experience with a federal project was widening the MacArthur intersection at Beltline. That proj ect received funding in 1993 and we are trying to final the project this year.) So...given our history with federal projects, we created a smaller federal project (Coppell Road North to Coppell Road South) and kept the larger project (Coppell Road South to Denton Tap) as a City project. We have just completed most of the paperwork and are waiting on the return of signed documents so we can begin the redesign of Sandy Lake from Coppell Road North to Coppell Road South as a federal project. At that time, we will also direct the consultant to begin the final plans on Sandy Lake from Coppell Road South to Denton Tap. My experience is that tree survival is a hit and miss. In this situation, some of the root system was cut when the 24" water line was installed in 1999. With the Sandy Lake project, we will be installing a storm drain system within about 10' of the north side of the trees . This will cut some more of the root system. We also are cutting down the road in the general area of Georgian Place. This could cut some more of the surface root system. We are currently proposing a wall along a portion of the south side of Sandy Lake in the preliminary plans to try to save some of the trees. However, that wall was proposed when we were showing the sidewalk to go on HOA property. When we move the sidewalk back into the right of way, we will reevaluate the need for the wall. If we have to take the trees out to install the sidewalk then it doesn't make sense to install a wall. We would just slope the ground. There maybe some opportunity to plant trees after the construction. Our plans show the existing 24" waterline to be about 5' away from the HOA wall. Once the proj ect is complete, we would attempt to locate the exact location of our 24" waterline and then move north of it about 10 to 15 feet. The general tree location could be about 15 to 20 feet away from the wall and about 15 feet away from the future back of curb. This leaves about a 3 to 5 foot area to plant trees. I wouldn't recommend planting them now because they could be damaged during construction of Sandy Lake. Hopefully this has answered your questions. I'll try to do a better j ob in the future of keeping the HOA's updated on Sandy Lake. If you do have any additional please call or email me. Ken Griffin, P. E. 972-304-3686 k~riffin(cr~,ci.coppell.tx.us »> "Gregory Peck" <g.peck@verizon.net> 4/24/2006 5:05 PM »> Ken, Thank you for your response. When do you envision the development of the final drawings? As I recall from our meeting, you anticipated beginning construction sometime in the 3rd quarter of o07. If that is correct, I would file://C:1Documents and SettingslradloolLocal SettingslTemplXPgrpwise144586EAOCity_... 9/11/2009 Page 3 of 5 guess that final plans would be worked on sometime in the later part of this year. Second, I appreciate your conservatism with respect to the likelihood of the trees surviving construction; do you have any anecdotal evidence from prior construction within the City that we could use as a guide. Finally, if the plan goes as unaltered today (straight line along the path of the existing trees) would we be able to plant trees between our development and the sidewalk? My notes indicate the presence ofa water main that may restrict the location of trees. Your note gives me a heightened sense of the conflicting signals that you are getting from our development. We will attempt to speak with a more singular voice in the future. Regards, Gregory Peck From: Ken Griffin [mailto:kgriffin~ci.coppell.tx.us] Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 3:44 PM To: Jorge Aguirre; Gregory Peck Subject: West Sandy Lake (Note: I tried to send this with the attachments but it would not go through. I will print the attachments and mail them to you.) This email is in response to your email concerning a letter the city sent on April 20, 2006 about the widening of Sandy Lake Road at the Whispering Hills intersection. You pointed out two concerns with the April 20th letter. The first concern was that the letter stated that Whispering Hills would be closed for a week or more. Actually, the letter stated that the street would be closed the week of May 1st through May 5th, unless weather causes a delay and then it would be closed May 8th through May 12th. If work goes as planned, the city anticipates the intersection to be closed for only four days. The second point in your email stated that a significant portion of the trees that line Sandy Lake Road and abut your subdivision would be cut down. The letter sent on April 20, 2006 does not address any tree removal. I walked the area adj acent to Georgian Place and, prior to any tree removal, there were 98 trees of various sizes adjacent to Georgian Place. Of those 98 trees, two were removed near the intersection of Sandy Lake Road and Whispering Hills adjacent to Georgian Place. There were also 8 trees adjacent to Georgian Place that were trimmed to provide for the proper tree canopy from the road to the bottom of the trees. There are still 96 trees adjacent to Georgian Place of various sizes. Your email goes on to discuss our May 2005 meeting. My recollection about our May 23, 2005 meeting was that it was a follow-up to the public hearing held on December 7, 2004 to discuss the widening of Sandy Lake Road. In our meeting we discussed the potential to move the sidewalk behind the tree row and let it meander onto the common property of the Georgian Place Subdivision. This approach would allow us to att~ to save the row of trees adjacent to West Sandy Lake Road. file://C:1Documents and SettingslradloolLocal SettingslTemplXPgrpwise144586EAOCity_... 9/11/2009 Page 4 of 5 Prior to the December 2004 public meeting, the city mailed out approximately 950 notices to citizens near West Sandy Lake Road. We actually had 44 people sign in at the public meeting. I noticed that you were unable to attend the public meeting, so attached to this email is a copy of a portion of my presentation that evening that shows trees adjacent to Georgian Place to be removed. (Slides 6 and 7 are the areas adjacent to Georgian Place) Also, attached to this email is copy of my summary memo sent to the City Manager's office on December 9, 2004 concerning the public meeting. A portion of the December 7, 2004 public meeting was dedicated to the removal of trees adjacent to West Sandy Lake Road. In paragraph 2 of my memo, I state that most of the comments received from citizens expressed concern or disappointment with the amount of the trees to be removed. However, most seemed resigned to the fact that the trees would need to be removed to complete the project. Another item discussed at the public meeting was the potential to meander a sidewalk on the south side of Sandy Lake Road, hopefully behind the trees planted in a straight line adjacent to the Georgian Place and Forest Cove Subdivisions. The only way to construct the sidewalk behind the row of trees would be to install it in the common area of the Georgian Place and Forest Cove subdivisions. Constructing the sidewalk behind those trees would give us an opportunity to attempt to save some of the trees. Mr. Jorge Aguirre of the Georgian Place Subdivision was at the public meeting and asked several questions concerning the sidewalk meandering. Mr. Aguirre suggested constructing the sidewalk in a straight line and planting trees on either side of the sidewalk to create a canopy effect. In the meeting, I responded to Mr. Aguirre's comments to state that we would need to contact the president of the HOA to determine how decisions are made by the HOA. Once that was determined, we would then meet with the HOA at a future HOA meeting and let the HOA decide whether or not to let us in the common area. In my file, I have a petition signed by the owners of the seven homes that backup to West Sandy Lake Road stating that they do not convey any rights for the purposes of installing a sidewalk in the common area of the Georgian Place HOA. Because the petition is not dated, I am not sure of the exact date it was submitted to the city. However, on November 8, 2005, Mr. Aguirre sent an email to me stating that Georgian Place does not want the City of Coppell to construct any sidewalk within the common area and that the petition previously provided to my office stands. As I have stated in numerous meetings and at several council meetings, the majority of the trees planted along the south side of Sandy Lake Road from Denton Tap Road to Coppell Road are planted in a straight line. To construct the roadway that the voters approved, the majority, if not all, of those trees will need to be removed if the sidewalk is placed within the city's right-of way. The only way to att~ to save any of those trees would be to have the sidewalk go behind the trees and encroach into the common area of the HOA. If you look at Exhibits 6 and 7 on the Power Point presentation, we show the sidewalk going behind the trees and we show several trees not to be removed. However, as I have stated numerous times, if the sidewalk goes in the city's right-of way, the trees will more than likely have to come out. We are still working on preliminary plans for West Sandy Lake Rd. and our timeline is such that the final plans probably will not be submitted until later this year or early next year as construction is now scheduled to begin in 2008. No where in my notes or any presentation material, have I ever stated that no trees would come out adjacent to Georgian Place. I apologize if during some of our conversations that you may have come to that conclusion. However, every document in my office and every presentation I have made shows that the trees adjacent to Georgian Place will need to be removed and that the onl ho e for saving some of the trees would be to meander the sidewalk behind the trees as shown on the exhibit attached to this email. file://C:1Documents and SettingslradloolLocal SettingslTemplXPgrpwise144586EAOCity_... 9/11/2009 Page 5 of 5 Because representatives of Georgian Place have submitted a petition requesting that we not encroach into the common area, we are left with no alternative but to design the plans to show the sidewalk in the city's right-of way. Therefore, the final plans will show a straight sidewalk and the removal of a majority, if not all, of the trees along the south side of Sandy Lake. The other item in your email was a request for delay of the project. As the April 20, 2006 letter stated, we are only widening the intersection at Whispering Hills to allow for a dedicated left turn lane from Sandy Lake Road onto Whispering Hills so that we can install a temporary traffic signal for safety purposes prior to the time that the Sandy Lake Road construction begins. We are in no way ready to begin the ultimate construction of West Sandy Lake Road. Right-of way has not been acquired, final plans have not been submitted, nor approved, and utilities have not been relocated. This is only a project to provide a safer intersection at Sandy Lake Road and Whispering Hills. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Ken Griffin, P. E. Director ofEngineering/Public Works 972-304-3686 k~riffin(cr~,ci.coppell.tx.us file://C:1Documents and SettingslradloolLocal SettingslTemplXPgrpwise144586EAOCity_... 9/11/2009