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03-Stantec_Northampton Shared Use Paths Feasibility Study_6.22.2021QUALIFICATIONS FOR CITY OF NORTHAMPTONSHARED USE PATHS FEASIBILITY STUDY JUNE 22, 2021 Stantec Consulting Services Inc. 136 West Street, Suite 203 Northampton MA 01060-3711 June 22, 2021 CITY OF NORTHAMPTON Mr. Wayne Feiden, FAICP Director of Planning & Sustainability 210 Main Street, City Hall Northampton, MA 01060 RE: Northampton Shared Use Paths Feasibility Study Dear Wayne, Thank you for inviting Stantec Consulting Services Inc. (Stantec) to submit this proposal to provide feasibility study support for six shared use path network expansions in Northampton. The City’s robust network of existing paths is a testament to your commitment to building a sustainable transportation network supporting a healthy community. We share these values and are pleased to offer assistance from our team of engineers and planners who can efficiently assess the feasibility of each project and provide the City with a path forward toward prioritization and implementation. PROJECT TEAM We have assigned some of our best and brightest trail team members to help out with this study. Rick Bryant, PE is our local point of contact and an Amherst resident who regularly uses these paths commuting to our Northampton office. Serving as Project Manager, Jen Ducey, PE will be responsible for leading the feasibility study effort, a role she has performed for many shared use path networks around the region. Jen is known for her site analysis and problem-solving skills. She is particularly effective in helping clients understand and navigate the planning and approval process and advancing projects from initial concept to implementation. Rick and Jen will oversee the work of Joe Rubino, EIT, Marlin Hueil, EIT and Alison LeFlore, AICP. Joe and Marlin specialize in trail projects and will be responsible for the alignment studies and construction cost estimates. Alison is skilled at producing concept level graphics to capture the technical nuances of each project. Others in our local offices will provide guidance regarding structures, environmental, and other feasibility study elements. RELEVANT EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS The 0-10% study and design effort is often the most challenging, and critical stage of a project. This is why we prepare feasibility studies that address real engineering issues, provide realistic cost estimates and outline the key factors influencing project implementation. Early identification of these project elements enables a municipality to make a more informed decision on next steps before time and money is spent advancing the design. Some of the shared use path feasibility and concept design studies our team members have prepared include: • Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, Acton, Concord and Sudbury • Squannacook River Rail Trail, Townsend and Groton • Orleans to South Orleans Trail, Orleans • Wakefield-Lynnfield Rail Trail, Wakefield and Lynnfield • Cochituate Rail Trail, Natick • Tewksbury Rail Trail, Tewksbury • Bay Colony Rail Trail, Needham • Border to Boston Trail, Georgetown and Boxford • Northern Strand Connection, Chelsea and Everett • Community Trail Phase 2, Groveland • CSX Right of Way Multi-Use Path, Chelsea • New Bedford Riverwalk, New Bedford • Mount Hope Bay Greenway, Fall River What you will notice about this list of trail and path projects is that many are constructed, in the design phase, or in the land acquisition phase. Our feasibility and concept design studies were critical to helping advance these projects towards implementation. The institutional knowledge we have gained from working together with municipalities and state agencies on these studies and other designs will enable us to quickly identify practical and realistic strategies to address challenges on your projects. As you know, no two sites are ever the same, and each project has a different set of community goals and stakeholders. However, our broad range of lessons learned on these projects allows our team to efficiently identify and address opportunities and challenges. CITY OF NORTHAMPTON | SHARED USE PATHS FEASIBILITY STUDY Our experience with some of the unique elements of the six projects includes: • Knowing the important questions to ask utility companies: Two of the extensions involve facilities owned by National Grid and Eversource. As part of these studies, it will be important to outline the questions the City should ask each utility to understand their requirements early. On recent projects, the utilities have identified specific equipment access and loading criteria that needed to be factored into the design and cost estimate. On another project, the utility required overhead surveys to measure the vertical clearance from the proposed path to the wires. The City should also be prepared to ask questions about the specifics of utility ownership, the extent of aboveground and underground facilities and if there are any future upgrades proposed that have the potential impact the path alignments. These items influenced our work on the Border to Boston trail network and the Concord River Greenway in Lowell. • Understanding the operational, maintenance, and safety requirements of the railroad: The RFP notes that MassDOT has expressed some willingness to consider a rail with trail component as part of the Connecticut River Greenway project. In addition to considering MassDOT’s interests, it will also be important to understand Pan Am Railways and AMTRAK offset and separation requirements and any plans for future capital improvements. Similar input was critical to our feasibility study work on the Bay Colony Rail Trail in Needham, CSX Right of Way Multi-Use Path in Chelsea, and Twin City Rail Trail in Leominster and Fitchburg. Again, it comes down to providing the City with a list of questions to ask the various railroad entities in order to understand their requirements early. • Identifying environmental resource areas early to evaluate measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts: Not surprisingly, most path networks traverse some of the most environmentally sensitive areas. On all of our feasibility studies, we overlay City and State GIS datalayers on the proposed path alignment to identify critical resources. This review requires understanding local and state requirements for each resource area in order to evaluate measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate potential project impacts. In addition to wetland and habitat resources, the RFP discusses concerns with siting the Rocky Hill Greenway Extension north on a City drinking water well property. Indeed, the Zone I area is the primary protection area around the public water supply and is regulated to keep the well protected from any sanitary impacts. Typically there is only the well access road and well building in Zone I area. We can review the proposed path alignment relative to the well buffer requirements and advise on feasibility. • Building upon prior work completed by others: The City has engaged Smith College engineering studio students and others via prior grants to evaluate three of the projects. We routinely review and incorporate prior work by others into our projects as it is not unusual to see various alternatives given the phased and multi-year approach many path projects follow. We also enjoy working with students on our shared use path projects. Over the past 2 years, we have been the project sponsor for three Worcester Polytechnic Institute engineering student teams. One team conducted a bridge type selection study for two bicycle/pedestrian bridges on the Twin City Rail Trail in Leominster. Another two teams conducted a Saugus River bridge crossing study and on-road alignment study in support of the DCR Northern Strand Trail in Lynn. As part of the Mount Hope Bay Greenway Feasibility Study, we identified nearby cultural and open space resources to inform the proposed greenway route and outline permitting requirements. STANTEC • Siting paths on State and Federal protected land: Locating a path extension along and/or across the State-owned Northampton Agricultural Reserve farmland and along the Mill River diversion levee will require special consideration of the Commonwealth’s Article 97 policy and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers Section 408 authorization process. We have prepared documentation to support these approvals for prior projects and will need to further review the protection clauses to understand the implications of proposing a new active recreational use on these protected lands. As we said earlier, no two sites are ever the same and these two extensions are a prime example of the uniqueness of the Northampton landscape. • Evaluating on-road connections, facility transitions, and termini: On-road connections are a critical component of path networks and extensions as they link the places where people want to go. When evaluating these connections, it is important to select a facility type appropriate to the roadway classification and roadway geometry. Other considerations include whether the road is public or private or local or state owned, how the path will transition between different facility types, and what type of termini treatment is suitable. These considerations have been an important part of the feasibility studies we have performed for municipalities seeking to connect their path networks to multiple points of interest, and on state funded studies seeking to evaluate the missing links between regional trail systems. SCOPE OF SERVICES We will focus our work on the major items of technical interest for the combination of projects the City chooses to advance as part of this effort. The goal will be to understand and document the opportunities, challenges, and construction costs associated with each potential extension. We propose the following deliverables for each project: • Technical Memorandum discussing vision, existing conditions, concept design and implementation, and anticipated approvals • Concept Plans appropriate to the resolution of aerial mapping and LiDAR data (60 to 100 scale, 11x17 sheets) • Environmental Screening Map overlaying the path alignment on aerial imagery and MassGIS and City datalayers to show the location of proximate environmental resource areas • Anticipated Approvals Matrix identifying potential environmental approvals and property agreements • Construction Cost Estimate with a list of items appropriate to concept level design and costs based on MassDOT weighted average bid prices for western Massachusetts and recent projects For the New Bedford Riverwalk Study along the Acushnet River, we evaluated a variety of project segments linking existing path networks and community amenities. The study also took into account current and future sea level rise projections with the goal of having the Riverwalk provide some level of shoreline flood protection. A good example of how planning level efforts are helpful in assessing and promoting opportunities for co-benefits. CITY OF NORTHAMPTON | SHARED USE PATHS FEASIBILITY STUDY The benefit of brief, technical memos per project is that each extension can be reviewed independently, and the content can be used to support future landowner discussions and funding applications. This proposed approach will provide the City with a strategic blueprint on how to expand the shared use path network and in turn meet the City’s objective to obtain “just enough information to think about the next steps.” Project Initiation, Kick Off Meeting/Site Visit, and Client Coordination Following Notice to Proceed, our team will attend a kick off meeting and site visit with the City to tour each selected project. The goal will be to validate the desktop level analysis of each site and capture representative photos for inclusion in the technical memos. This task also includes: • Developing memorandum, concept plan, environmental basemap, approvals matrix, and estimate templates that will be used for each project • Preparing a separate list of potential funding sources that could be explored for these projects. For example, we recently assisted five communities with grant proposals for the MassTrails program.• Project management, client and team coordination, and conference calls Projects 1 through 6 As requested in the RFP, a separate cost has been developed for each project. The level of effort for each project includes preparing the technical memorandum with supporting photos, plans, maps and matrices as outlined in the deliverables list above. Exclusions Given the City’s desired level of analysis, we have not included survey, legal review of title, easement or deed language, public outreach or meetings, coordination with state agencies or utilities, or grant writing as part of our scope of services. These services overlap with later work to be performed in the design phase. If desired, these services could be included as part of a supplemental proposal. SCHEDULE Our team is prepared to begin work on this project immediately upon notice to proceed. We anticipate the project can be completed within 3 to 4 months of contract execution depending on how many of the projects are advanced as part of the study. FEE We propose to complete each of the tasks below for the fixed fee amount per project inclusive of labor and direct expenses. As discussed in our Scope of Services section, the Project Initiation, Kick Off Meeting/Site Visit, and Client Coordination task is needed whether the City chooses to advance one project or all six projects. No out-of-scope work will be performed without prior approval and authorization. Invoices will be submitted monthly and/or upon completion of tasks and will be based on percentage complete per project. Task Fee Project Initiation, Kick Off Meeting/Site Visit, and Client Coordination $9,000 Project 1. MassCentral to Hotel Bridge in Leeds $6,800 Project 2. Connecticut River Greenway $10,200 Project 3. Rocky Hill Greenway Extension North $7,100 Project 4. Rocky Hill Greenway Gap $7,100 Project 5. State Hospital Path $8,100 Project 6. New Haven and Northampton Canal Greenway/Herbert Ave Ramp $8,700 TOTAL $57,000 STANTEC We know Northampton loves shared use paths. Well, we do too! Our team is excited about this project as it will provide an opportunity to build upon our local presence and commitment to the community. This is the type of work that we enjoy doing and we are confident that our team can successfully meet the objectives outlined in the RFP. We very much look forward to partnering with the City on this effort. Regards, STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES INC. RICK BRYANT, PE JENNIFER DUCEY, PE Senior Associate Project Manager (413) 387-4502 (781) 221-1031 rick.bryant@stantec.com jennifer.ducey@stantec.com We take great pride in our trails and our community. For the last four years our Northampton office has had a trail clean up day along your trails. It is both a rewarding experience and a way to give back to our community. This year’s clean up is this Friday. See you on the trail! CITY OF NORTHAMPTON | SHARED USE PATHS FEASIBILITY STUDY DESIGN WITH COMMUNITY IN MIND. RICK BRYANT, PE JENNIFER DUCEY, PE Senior Associate Project Manager (413) 387-4502 (781) 221-1031 rick.bryant@stantec.com jennifer.ducey@stantec.com