The Grand Chute Town Board, based upon recommendation from the town's Department of Public works, has voted to move forward with full urbanization of the Casaloma West Subdivision. This includes repaving roadways, installing storm sewer and providing curb and gutter. The Post Crescent covered this decision in an article printed after the town board meeting. The situation in this town area is really more involved than has been reported in the media. The following is a detailed account of the process whereby I came to a determination in favor of full urbanization.
The Casaloma West area is located on the west side of Grand Chute and encompasses around 100 residential homes. Streets include Goldenrod, Wildflower, Casaloma and others. This area, built in the early 80s, has its share of problems with poor drainage of rain water. Several resident's sump pumps have overflowed, resulting in flooded basements. The drainage problem has been so bad, some residence have threatened to sue the town. Currently, almost 20% of service calls and repair calls to our public works department are directly related to the Casaloma West area.
The town has looked into replacing this road for about three years. The current road has deteriorated so significantly, that it cannot simply be ground up and resurfaced. The aggregate mix commonly used in the 80s underneath roadways needs to be replaced with a stronger aggregate mix as well.
Earlier this year, I made a successful motion directing the public works department to evaluate all possible options for this road repair. Engineering professionals cored the roads and examined different scenarios. They were to report back with findings and a detailed report with recommendations to the Town Board. In the report, the town engineer explained the need to reconstruct aggregate under the road and keep repair of heaving culverts to a minimum.
There were four scenarios the town engineer presented to the Town Board:
The first scenario was a simple resurfacing of the road. This would cost about $3600 per household. Unfortunately, this is a band-aid solution and would only last one to two years. The deteriorating aggregate (underneath) part of the roadway would not sustain resurfacing. The frost would also continue to heave culverts, and simple resurfacing would do nothing to solve drainage issues or eliminate standing water. This could not be considered an option due to lack of road stability and no resolution of standing water.
The next option focused on repairing the road and solving drainage and standing water issues by lowering existing ditches. This option was estimated at $6,110. Ditches would be lowered four to five additional feet in some areas in order to correctly pitch drainage. Roadways would still be torn up to reset new aggregate and repair culverts. Road life expectancy would be 10-12 years. However, the public works department would continue having the burden of cleaning and maintaining ditches. This includes unthawing ice dams in culverts during winter months to allow proper flowing. Steep ditches were also viewed as a serious deterrent for safe lawn care and parked vehicles.
Because of the above drainage vs. ditch issues, the public works department ultimately recommended replacing ditches with storm sewer. The proposed storm sewer would allow sump water and the standing water to be sent directly down the creek via PVC pipe. Installation of storm sewer and reconstruction of the road way was estimated at $8,000 per household. Life expectancy of the roadway with gravel shoulders would remain at 10-12 years, or increase only slightly.
The final option was to include curb and gutter with the storm water system and reconstructed road. This option was estimated at $8800 per household. Curb and gutter increases life expectancy of the road to 20-25 years. Curb and gutters eliminate damage from vehicles parked on gravel shoulders that tear edges, creating spider cracks. These cracks eventually widen when water enters and seeps into the aggregate. The final benefit to curb and gutter is that when roadways do need repair, the surface can be skimmed and a new level of asphalt laid at a fraction of the cost. Adding curb and gutter for an additional $800 was seen as maximizing production of roadways for a minimal dollar amount. Both by preventing a second (probably even more expensive) assessment after a 10-12 year period, and cost effectively solving drainage issues.
In conclusion, based upon recommendation by Tom Marquardt, Director of Public Works, the Town Board agreed the best solution to maximize the expectancy of roads and eliminate or reduce future work orders was by full urbanization of Casaloma West.
Coming up: Q & A on Casaloma West Urbanization (I've been answering a lot of them...send me your specific topic), Report on Urbanization Workshop
