Roadways within VAT

Hello Neighbors,

As many homeowners are aware, there are several roadways within our community that are showing signs of deterioration. The Board has reached out to our Neighborhood Liaison, Rebecca Deeds, with the Department of Neighborhoods as well as the Department of Public Service about roadway maintenance and here is what was communicated:

Please find an image of the City’s pavement condition map for your area. As you can see from the second attachment, most of your neighborhood’s streets are in either “Fair” or “Poor” condition. With the City’s vast number of lane-miles to maintain and limited funds, it is not uncommon for streets to degrade to “very poor” condition before they are scheduled for resurfacing.

Below is a screenshot of an internal map that the city uses to track roadway conditions.

As you can see we have several streets in our community in the fair to poor condition with one isolated area marked as “very poor”. Complaints about roadway conditions are handled by Columbus 311. The Board STRONGLY ENCOURAGES all homeowners to contact Columbus 311 and report any adverse road conditions. When reporting online or via the Columbus311 app you will also have the opportunity to add photos to your report. Including these photos will also have an impact in how quickly our roadways are addressed.

As with previous years we expect the city to provide access to a “Capital Improvements Budget Recommendation” form that allows citizens to provide direct feedback on projects they feel should be addressed – however this form is not available at this time. As soon as the form is available it will be posted for homeowners to provide their feedback.

We hope this information provides a clearer picture of the status of our roadways and what steps are needed in order to make our roadways a priority for the city to resurface.

Utility Markings and Construction

Recently many members of our community have had questions regarding the utility markings being found throughout our community.

There have been several Ohio811 (“call before you dig”) requests for utility markings on different streets within our community. This is related to new fiber optic lines being installed throughout our area. This is not an HOA related project. This construction occurs in the public right-of-way, so the HOA is not notified or involved.

The public-right-of-way is a strip of land dedicated for use by the City, in addition to the roadway, that is usually between the roadway edge and the sidewalk or utility poles. Generally it is ~12′ from the edge of the roadway, depending on what part of the City you are located. The City of Columbus requires permission and approval through specific ROW permits for use of the City’s public ROW.

Typically the construction vendor marks their intended construction locations with white spray paint. Then the construction vendor notifies utility protection service to locate and mark underground utilities only near the planned construction. By law the construction vendor must notify Ohio Utility Protection Service, or OUPS/Ohio811, (excluding weekends and legal holidays) at least 48 hours but no more than 10 working days prior to their work starting.

Want to know what all the different colors represent?

Red: electric power lines, cables, conduit and lighting cables
Orange: telecommunication, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduit
Yellow: natural gas, oil, steam, petroleum or other flammable
Green: sewers and drain lines
Blue: potable drinking water
Purple: reclaimed water, irrigation and slurry lines
Pink: temporary survey markings, unknown/unidentified facilities

 

We encourage homeowners with concerns about their property and how this work may affect them to contact OUPS, they may be able to assist in identifying the party who requesting the markings. You can also look up permit applications with the City of Columbus at: https://www.columbus.gov/Business-Development/Get-a-Permit/Get-or-Track-a-Building-Permit.

We hope this information helps homeowners find out more about how this construction may be affecting their property.

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