Title
Resolution Accepting Easement for Public Utilities from the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor (Miller-Maple Transmission Water Main Project - located at Forsythe and Wines Schools) (8 Votes Required)
Memorandum
There is a resolution before you to accept an easement for public utilities from The Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor, a public body corporate organized and existing under the Michigan Revised School Code, for the portion of the Miller-Maple Transmission Water Main Project that is constructed on school property.
The grant of easement includes a new 24-inch water main, a new 30-inch storm sewer and a new 8-inch force main, all of which were installed in the main trench which also accommodates an existing 24-inch water main. The pipes are jointly located on Forsythe Middle School and Wines Elementary School property.
The easement does not include the right to install electrical conduit. The conduit was not included in the construction. There are five main reasons conduit was not installed with the water main project.
1) The AAPS was firm in not granting an easement across their property for electrical conduit that might enable a nearby wind turbine. Without the school easement there was no obvious route to transmit power to the Water Treatment Plant
2) There were technical questions whether the voltage produced by the wind turbine could transmit power to the WTP over the distance involved effectively (line loss and efficiencies if the voltage had to be transformed).
3) The cost of the conduit was priced at approximately $200,000; essentially a $200,000 bet that a wind turbine would be built. The developer of the turbine wanted the city solely to make the investment and was not willing to place some of their capital in the speculative investment.
4) The conduit could be installed at a later date if a turbine were to be built in that area. Directional drilling could be used to install the conduit with minimal disturba...
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