ST9302-CS040325 T H E · C I T Y O F
CO?I:'ELL
Donald L. Bartlett, P.E.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, lnc.
12700 Park Central Drive, Suite 1800
Dallas, TX 75251
RE: Sandy Lake Road ST 93-02
Dear Mr. Bartlett:
March 25, 2004
This letter is written as a follow-up to our recent meeting concerning accessibility issues associated with
the Sandy Lake Road project. In my letter of February 24, 2004, I had sought to determine Kimley-
Horn's position on helping to rectify the incorrectly designed and constructed components of the project.
Two items came out of that meeting: 1) you stated that Kimley-Hom could provide some engineering
assistance in working with the State to attempt to gain variances to the accessible route cross-slope
violations; and 2) you provided information from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations
website concerning changes to the Architectural Barriers Act since 1969.
You specifically noted that House Bill 39 in the 72"0 Legislature, second called session of 1991 stated that
the responsibility for submitting construction documents was on architects, engineers or building owners.
Your interpretation of that highlighted section fi'om the TDLR website was that it was thc City's
responsibility to submit plans in 1992, not the design engineers responsibility. You then noted that the
statutory changes associated with House Bill 484, in the 77th Legislature in 2001, required design
professionals with overall responsibility to submit plans to TDLR. Your statements were that it was only
in 2001 that design professionals were required to submit plans and that prior to that date the
responsibility was the building owners.
While the areas highlighted on the information you presented might seem to suggest that the actual bills
from 1991 and 2001 do state something different, I am including portions of the actual House Bill 39, as
approved in the 2nd called session of 1991. In part 4, entitled "Architectural Barriers", Section 5,
paragraph D it states "The plans and specifications shall be submitted to the Department by the architect
or engineer who has overall responsibility for the design of the constructed or reconstructed building." It
goes on to state that the only time the building owner shall submit the plans and specifications to the
Department is if there is no architect or engineer with that responsibility, unless the cost of construction or
reconstruction of the project is less than $50,000. So the paragraph on TDLR's website is somewhat
misleading. It does place responsibility for submitting construction documents on architects, engineers
and building owners. However, it very clearly states that if there is an engineer or an architect of record it
is their responsibility to submit plans and specifications for review, not the owners.
Senate Bill 484 from 200I did not add the language that the engineer or architect with overall
responsibility shall submit the plans. It only added the tag-on information that states the plans should be
submitted no later that the 5th day after the issuance of the plans and specifications.
Bottom line is that by State law, the engineer who had overall responsibility for the design of the facility
was required in 1991 to submit plans to the State. This predated the contract between the City of Coppell
and Rady and Associates (which is now Kimley-Hom).
Section 4.03 of House Bill 39, in 1991, goes on to state that failure to timely provide plans and
specifications to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations as required is a violation of the
Texas Engineering Practice Act.
I am very much aware of language in the contract between the City of Coppell and Rady and Associates
stating owner responsibility to obtain governmental approvals. However, as the design engineer for the
project and the City's design engineer under contract, it should have been brought to the City's attention
that the plans needed to be submitted by Rady and Associates to the State for review, in accordance with
House Bill 39. Obviously at that point, as we have on other projects, we would have processed a check
for the submittal, had the plans provided by the design engineer, and then submitted same to the State for
review.
If that review had been done in a timely manner obviously changes could have been made to the plans,
and the project could have been constmcted in compliance, as opposed to the numerous violations.
Again, the City is faced with the situation of having to remove and replace significant portions of the
project to be in compliance. These portions of the project which need to be removed and replaced, were
designed incorrectly on the plans by Rady and Associates.
On March 19, 2004, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations provided the City of Coppell
with a final letter noting more than 40 outstanding violations for the project. That letter provides 90-days
to correct all violations. That 90-days will expire on June 16, 2004. At this point it is imperative that
corrections be made to the project to be in compliance. I once again ask what responsibility is Kimley-
Horn taking for this oversight and what will Kimley-Hom provide to the City to correct the incorrectly
designed and constructed components of the project.
The clock is ticking on this project, therefore, a very timely response to this letter would be appreciated.
If you need any additional information please feel free to contact me at your convenience. I will be
unavailable from March 31 - April 2, 2004; however, 1 will be back in the office on April 5, 2004.
Again, a timely response will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kenneth M. Griffin, P.E.
Director of Engineering / Public Works
Office 972/304-3686
Fax 972/304-7041
cc: Jeff James, P.E., Kimley-Horn