Infrastructure Update, May 2005

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5/18/05 Drexel

Infrastructure Meeting at Drexel

In attendance: Mark Reeder, Leslie Ewy, Bill Windsor and Kurt Bischoff

Please note- these minutes are "ideas in progress" only, nothing firm has been decided.

Summary:

Bill Windsor will be presenting Excel with a presentation for evaluation of Electric and gas within the park, with the hopes of a "donation" of upgrading Utilities. The main thrust of the effort is justified because Lu Nuttall put in "private"Utilities when the park was built, and Excel has been collecting revenues on it. Because of this Excel should upgrade and sell additional power with higher Amps available to residents.

Also discussed was the splitting of the Park utilities upgrades so that half the Park would be done in one phase the other half of the park would be done in the other.

The MHA presented the fact that by upgrading utilities in two phases: the southern half of the Park first and the northern half of the Park second - there were some great benefits. 1) 75% of the sewer problems were in the southern half. 2) Less impact on the residents, specifically digging up their yards for the dry utilities which would take out a significant number of trees, 3) Saving up to $500,000 in costs.

Bill pointed out that their are both positive and negative components to the split.
Negatives are uncertain timing on when we could do the northern half of the part, as it pertains to the bonds which are allocated to doing the whole park.

The MHA reiterated how the lower half of the sewer has 75% of the sewer problems which indicates more of root problems and this being the "older" portion of the park, so therefore should be addressed sooner. This would also alleviate some problems with the northern half of the Park. Also conveyed was the cost savings of doing both wet and dry at the same time in order to save money and minimize impact on residents.

Leslie acknowledged that the impact on trees was greater if dry utitlities were done through resident's lawns. She also added there were places on the south half of the Park where sewer replacement wasn't "absolutely necessary" at the northern end of the upper tier near Folsom, with four homes from Branding Iron and the entrance to the Park at Mapleton. In addition, by tying in the water lines from the northern half to the southern half, we could increase water pressure in the northern half immediately, allowing for hydrants and the safety benefits.

Bill seemed much more amenable to examine this further and asked that once the prelim city review was in place to look into this further.
Mark and Kurt suggested that the Executive board be allowed to make the decision on behalf of MHA residence in order to not cause a sense of the "haves and have nots", within the park. Also this allows for Thistle not to create an adversarial relationship with the park residents.

Leslie Ewy and Wyatt Construction manager Tim Kane will get together to go over figures and cost out the feasibility of upgrading the Park's infrastructure in two phases