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Staff REPORT
Action ITEM
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| | | | | | | | SUBJECT:
| Easements for Capital Projects-12th Street Drainage and Roadway Improvements
| DATE OF MEETING:
| May 23, 2023
| | Staff CONTACT(S): | Dale Lehnig, Director of Engineering, Planning & Development
Jessica Keller, Capital Projects Coordinator
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SUMMARY and RECOMMENDATIONS:
The 12th Street Improvements project began in 2018, following a 2016 Engineering Study which identified potential solutions to the drainage and roadway concerns along the street, and the subsequent award of VDOT Revenue Sharing Funds in FY2019 and FY2020. The project will install storm sewer and inlets, curb and gutter, and sidewalk; simultaneously replace the aging 4” waterline (a Water Fund CIP project); and resurface the roadway upon completion. In order to construct these improvements, easements are needed on 32 parcels. With the Town’s acceptance of the Deed of Easement attached to this staff report, all of the necessary easements will have been obtained. The design plans can now be finalized and readied for construction advertisement.
The Town’s Engineering, Planning & Development Department has undertaken several Council-approved construction projects, the completion of which require that easements and/or right of way be granted to the Town by private property owners. This agenda item seeks Council approval of numerous such easements. For efficiency, these deeds of easement and/or deeds of dedication can be approved collectively, in a single motion.
The deeds of easement and/or deeds of dedication submitted to Town Council for approval with this agenda item are routine. The land subject to an easement remains owned by the private property owner, and not the Town. As such, it is not truly a conveyance of real estate requiring Council approval. Nonetheless, the Town’s long-standing practice has been to treat such easements as conveyances of real estate, requiring approval by the Town Council(1) and signature by the Mayor. Unlike an easement, right of way that is dedicated to the Town is no longer owned by the property owner. The Town (or the property owner) generally requests right of way dedication for land that is adjacent to existing right of way and is needed for roadway improvements such as additional land width, curb & gutter, or sidewalk.
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§ 15.2-1803. Approval and acceptance of conveyances of real estate.
Every deed purporting to convey real estate to a locality shall be in a form approved by the attorney for the locality, or if there is no such attorney, then a qualified attorney-at-law selected by the governing body. No such
deed shall be valid unless accepted by the locality, which acceptance shall appear on the face thereof or on a separately recorded instrument and shall be executed by a person authorized to act on behalf of the locality. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any conveyance of real estate to any locality under the provisions of Article 6 (§ 15.2-2240 et seq.) of Chapter 22 or prior to December 1, 1997.
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BACKGROUND:
The Deed of Easement submitted for approval with this staff report furthers the following capital project:
(a) 12th Street Drainage and Road Improvements
This is a VDOT Revenue Sharing and NVTA funded project on S. 12th Street, which includes sidewalk, curb & gutter, and drainage improvements. Easements are needed on 32 parcels. The deed submitted for approval and attached to this report is:
- Kowalczyk
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BUDGET IMPACT:
Acquisition of easements and/or right of way is negotiated between Town Staff and the property owners. All such negotiations relative to the easements and/or right of way before Town Council for approval with this Staff Report have been concluded. If Town Council approves and accepts the attached deed of dedication and easement, the negotiated deed, which has already been budgeted and appropriated as part of the capital cost of the project, will be recorded.
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MOTION(S):
“I move that Town Council approve and accept the easements and right of way offered in the Deed of Dedication and Easement attached to this Staff Report and authorize the Mayor to sign all such deeds on behalf of the Town.”
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