HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity of Edina - CWRMP Major Amendment - 03272020
Barr Engineering Co. 4300 MarketPointe Drive, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55435 952.832.2600 www.barr.com
March 26, 2020 Ross Bintner and Jessica Wilson Engineering Department City of Edina 7450 Metro Boulevard Edina, MN 55439 Re: Proposal for City of Edina Comprehensive Water Resource Management Plan Amendment Services Dear Mr. Bintner and Ms. Wilson: This letter presents our proposed scope of services and associated cost estimate for providing services
related to amending the city of Edina’s (City’s) Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan
(CWRMP) in response to the City’s Flood Risk Reduction Strategy (FRRS) and related studies. The scope of
work presented below is based on general work tasks discussed during our meeting with City staff on
March 10, 2020.
Project Understanding
The City adopted its current 10-year CWRMP in July, 2018 consistent with the schedule documented in
Minnesota Rules 8410. Since adoption of the CWRMP, the City has performed several high priority tasks
identified in the CWRMP implementation program, including development of a Flood Risk Reduction
Strategy (FRRS) and more detailed hydrologic and hydraulic studies of the Morningside neighborhood.
The FRRS represents a major effort by the City to identify and prioritize coordinated strategies to reduce
flood risk through infrastructure, regulation, education and outreach, and emergency services. We
understand the City seeks to revise the CWRMP to reflect the framework and strategies defined in the
FRRS as well as the lessons learned from recent Morningside studies. We understand City staff seeks to
revise the list of 107 potential implementation activities (Table 15.2) to reflect a more coordinated and
comprehensive decision-making approach while preserving flexibility to identify and address future
priority issues. To create a more functional resource, we understand City staff would like to consider
separating CWRMP content into different volumes or appendices to address: strategy/implementation,
specific drainage areas, and modeling/assessments.
We understand that the City seeks to engage the watershed districts throughout the amendment process
to identify opportunities for collaboration and to ensure amendment approval. We understand that City
staff may lead additional public engagement efforts during the amendment process. We also understand
that the City would like to undertake additional targeted flood mitigation studies (similar to the
Morningside work) for four additional detailed study areas, including:
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• Concord and West 58th Street
• Halifax Avenue South
• Valley View and Southdale Road Neighborhood
• Southwest Corner of TH 62 and TH 100
Although instigated by the development of local flood risk reduction strategy documents and tools, this
amendment is an opportunity to update other relevant CWRMP content to reflect current data, programs,
and implementation priorities not specifically related to flood risk reduction (e.g., Section 15.4.7 policy
issues). We understand the City seeks to submit the draft CWRMP amendment for watershed district
review by early 2021.
Background and Knowledge Base
Barr Engineering Co. (Barr) has provided professional engineering services to the City since the late 1950s,
including stormwater studies and planning assistance. Barr collaborated with the City to prepare the 2003,
2011 (update) and 2018 CWRMPs and developed the associated stormwater management models used to
estimate the flood levels throughout the city.
The 2018 CWRMP includes sections presenting:
• physical setting of the City (Section 2)
• goals, policies, and design standards addressing water resource issues (Section 3)
• data, methods, and assumptions for stormwater system modeling (Section 4)
• 10 major drainage area descriptions, including stormwater system analysis and recommendations
(Sections 5 – 14)
• implementation programs and capital improvements to address issues (Section 15)
• wetlands information (Section 16)
The implementation program (Table 15.1) and potential implementation activities (Table 15.2) included in
Section 15 identify ongoing and planned programs, studies, and capital improvements to address runoff
management, flood control, and clean water issues. Projects are generally prioritized based on water
quality and/or flood risk reduction benefit, multi-benefit opportunities, and cost-benefit considerations.
Amendment of the CWRMP will include significant updates to the current data, modeling, and
implementation content (in addition to other updates). Many of these updates will be informed by work
that Barr has assisted the City in completing. Over the past few years, Barr has had the opportunity to
evaluate flood risk in the Morningside neighborhood in more detail. This work included monitoring,
updating models, and evaluating potential flood risk reduction options. The 2018 analysis performed for
the Morningside neighborhood will serve as a guide, as applicable, for flood risk reduction studies
performed for the additional four priority areas.
The results of the analyses completed to date will be used in subsequent project work to further
understand and characterize flood risk and inform the City’s FRRS. Table 15.2, for example, includes a total
of 107 possible future activities. Some of these activities have been evaluated in varying levels of detail as
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part of Barr’s ongoing modeling work. Other activities have been considered as part of the City’s FRRS
development.
Modeling results, data, and policy, programs, and projects resulting from the FRRS will be incorporated
into the CWRMP to create a more useful document to prioritize and guide City flood risk reduction efforts
in a more comprehensive, efficient, and targeted manner into the future.
Project Scope of Work
Tasks associated with the scope of work are described below.
task 1: Flood risk reduction studies of four study areas
This task will consist of completing concept level flood risk reduction studies for four additional study
areas identified in the 2018 CWRMP, including:
• Concord and West 58th Street (CWRMP Section 13.3.1.2)
• Halifax Avenue South (CWRMP Section 12.3.1.2)
• Valley View and Southdale Road Neighborhood (CWRMP Section 7.3.1.1)
• Southwest Corner of TH 62 and TH 100 (CWRMP Section 7.3.1.2)
The subtasks to be completed for each study area as part of this work include:
1. Reviewing details of previous stormwater modeling for the study area, including work done in support of the CWRMP and other applicable plans.
2. Meeting with City staff to brainstorm potential flood risk reduction options
3. Performing additional XP-SWMM modeling, including simulating several additional recurrence intervals (i.e., a total of 4-5 storm events between the 5-year and 100-year events) for existing conditions, previously modeled flood risk reduction options, and up to three additional potential flood risk reduction options (to be determined specific to each area).
4. Quantifying the number of homes potentially impacted by surface water for each storm event
5. Developing planning-level cost estimates for each of the proposed mitigation options, leveraging cost curves, benchmarking, and/or scaling from current and previous work, where applicable.
6. Preparing final documentation. Deliverables will include a PowerPoint presentation (to be used for meeting with City staff), a brief “executive summary” level write-up (for inclusion in the CWRMP), a tabular summary of potentially impacted structures (with associated parcel IDs), and figures that help tell the story of potential flood risk reduction opportunities within the study area.
7. Meeting with City staff to discuss findings of each study area.
cost: $48,000 (assumes $12,000 and ~100 hours of Barr staff time per study area) optional 2D modeling cost: additional $20,000 (assumes $5,000 and ~40 hours of Barr staff time per study area to convert from a 1D model to a 2D model)
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task 2: Updates to CWRMP data, modeling, and structure
This task will consist of updating CWRMP content excluding strategy and implementation. This will include
updates to Section 2 (physical setting), Section 4 (system assessment) and updates to major drainage
district sections (Sections 5 – 14) to reflect current conditions. This will also include consulting with City
staff to determine a revised CWRMP format and framework for potentially presenting model results and
current data outside the CWRMP document that meets the intent of MN Rules 8410 and watershed
district requirements.
cost: $13,000 (assumes ~100 hours of Barr staff time)
task 3 – Updates to CWRMP strategy elements
This task will consist of updates to the policies, programs, strategies, and implementation activities in the
CWRMP to fully integrate the FRRS strategies, flood mitigation study outcomes, and direction from City
staff. We anticipate that this will include regular coordination and collaboration with City staff, including
up to four meetings (in-person or remote pending public health recommendations). Specifically, this task
will address:
• Updates to policies/design standards included in Section 3 to incorporate recommendations from
the FRRS and best practices to mitigate flood risk. This may include recommended revisions to
design standards (e.g., minimum building elevations for redevelopment).
• Review and updates to non-runoff/flood protection policies, as needed, to promote consistency
and coordination with flood protection policy updates.
• Updates to current and planned City programs to reflect current practice and incorporate
programmatic recommendations from the FRRS.
• Updates to the infrastructure improvement program narrative and Tables 15.1 and 15.2. We
anticipate this will include significant revision to the list of 107 potential projects/activities in
Table 15.2. The narrative will be revised to define a comprehensive decision making process that
considers downstream risk, multi-benefit factors, future resilience, and other factors. This may
include a “toolbox approach” from which to draw practices based on decisions informed by
modeling efforts (e.g., Morningside) and FRRS development.
cost: $27,000 (assumes ~200 hours of Barr staff time)
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task 4 – Formatting the draft CWRMP
This task will consist of formatting the complete draft CWRMP in a pdf (or similar) format, consistent with
the CWRMP structure and content determined in task 2. The estimated cost assumes model results (tables
and figures) are maintained digitally or in a separate document.
cost: $2,000 (assumes ~15 hours of Barr staff time)
task 5 – Amendment review, revision, and approval
This task will consist of submitting the draft CWRMP for amendment review, and responding to comments
(as needed), and finalizing the plan. The CWRMP will be submitted for review following the procedure
defined in Section 15.5 and consistent with MN Rules 8410. This task also includes coordinating with the
watershed districts throughout the project and ahead of the formal review to keep them informed and
obtain input. We anticipate that City staff will present the amendment to City Council for adoption with
Barr staff providing a support role, as needed.
cost: $8,000 (assumes ~50 hours of Barr staff time)
Project Cost Estimate and Schedule
The total cost for the scope of work described above is $98,000. If the optional cost to complete 2D
modeling of the four priority areas is included, the total cost for the scope of work is $118,000. We
propose to complete this work on a time and expense basis. We anticipate that the work prior to
submitting the amendment for watershed district review will be complete by early 2021, with the
amendment review, revision (if needed), and adoption occurring thereafter. Barr will complete the
proposed scope of work in accordance with the Master Agreement for Professional Engineering Services.
We appreciate the opportunity to continue providing engineering services to the City of Edina and look
forward to working with you on this project. If the proposed scope of services is satisfactory, please sign a
copy of this letter in the space provided, and return it to us. If you have any questions about the scope of
services, please contact Sarah Stratton (952-832-2860, sstratton@barr.com).
(signature page follows)
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Sincerely yours,
BARR ENGINEERING CO.
Sarah Stratton
Its Vice President Accepted this ____________ day of ___________________, 20____ City of Edina By