Title
Approval of an ordinance on third reading with the caption reading: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PFLUGERVILLE ADOPTING THE 2014 ENGINEERING DESIGN MANUAL AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS, REPLACING ALL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS IN CONFLICT; CONTAINING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Summary
In accordance with Section 3.14 of the City charter which requires an ordinance for the adoption or amendments to an administrative code or regulations pertaining to land use or development, the Engineering Design Manual has been updated to reflect current industry engineering and construction standards.
The Engineering staff has spent the last 18 months working to update the 2005 Engineering Design Guidelines to develop the 2014 Engineering Design Manual. Over the years, staff has heard from numerous developers as well as consultants on issues with current design requirements which cause conflicts during design and do not provide the best benefit to the entire public infrastructure system. Engineering staff worked directly with the Planning Department so that both the 2014 Engineering Design Manual and the updated Unified Development Code incorporate cross referenced material for ease with any future updates. With the updated manual, new sections of the guidelines are being added such as Traffic Impact Analysis criteria and Lift Station Design criteria. All other sections of the previous 2005 version of the Engineering design guidelines were updated to meet the City's current standards and be more in line with development regulations for the region. The updated revisions made simple changes such as establishing the minimum size of public utility pipe to be 8" rather than 6", and new minimum depth of utilities were implemented. Other sections such as streets and drainage included further technical design criteria which was not previously mentioned in the 2005 version. In the previous 2005 sections, criteria in the City design manual conflicted with regional and national design criteria such as the City of Austin drainage criteria manual as well as AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) guidelines. These conflicts were cleaned up in order to provide more thorough direction to consulting engineers and private development and keep typical design aspects throughout the region consistent.
The most significant update to the 2014 manual was the inclusion of lift station design criteria. Previously the City of Pflugerville had no such criteria for lift station design within the City of Pflugerville jurisdiction nor did the City adopt an outside system design requirement. The City drafted its own criteria using the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) criteria as a reference. By implementing this new lift station design criteria, all equipment and design of lift stations will be uniform throughout the City and will provide for more cost effective maintenance. Additionally, private development will now be required to do full preliminary cost analysis prior to the permitting of any temporary lift station. This new measure will determine a more efficient use of both private development and City taxpayer funds while providing the best long term plan for the provision of wastewater.
Planning and Zoning Commission Action
On September 15, 2014, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the Engineering Design Manual and Construction Standards as proposed.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of the ordinance on third and final reading.
Prior City Council Action
A public hearing was conducted by the City Council on October 28, 2014.
A worksession was held with the City Council on November 11, 2014.
The ordinance was approved by the City Council on first reading on November 11, 2014 with a vote of 3-2. Second reading of the ordinance was postponed to provide time for additional public input.
The ordinance was approved by the City Council on second reading on February 10, 2015 with a vote of 3-0.
Fiscal Impact
N/A
Drafter
Emily Barron, AICP
Planning Director
Dan Franz, P.E.
City Engineer