Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Municipal Services & Operations

TO:	Tom Markus, City Manager
FROM:	Dave Cronin, City Engineer
CC:	Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager Dave Wagner, Director of Municipal Services & Operations Jonathan Marburger, Project Engineer
DATE:	October 11, 2018
RE:	Coordination with Lawrence Preservation Alliance E. 9^th Street (New Hampshire to Pennsylvania) – Brick Salvaging

Background

In July 2018, Pavers, Inc. began removing bricks from existing 9^th Street as part of project PW1502; E. 9^th Street (New Hampshire to Pennsylvania). The plans call for brick to be re-used at the intersection of 9^th & New York, on Rhode Island adjacent to 9^th St, and to reconstruct existing brick sidewalks. The remainder of brick removed is being salvaged and stockpiled on City property near 18^th and Wakarusa.

Some concerns were heard from local interest groups regarding the preservation and re-use of materials removed from old City streets.

Staff Action

On August 24, City Staff met with representatives of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance (LPA). Staff included David Cronin (City Engineer), Jon Marburger (Project Engineer), Lynne Zollner (Historic Resources), and Brandon McGuire (Assist. To the City Manager). LPA representatives included Dennis Domer and Dennis Brown.

Staff gave a tour of the brick stockpile at 18^th and Wakarusa, as well as salvaged brick and limestone curbing stored at 11^th and Haskell. The small quantity of brick at 11^th & Haskell are palletized and used to replace small areas of brick sidewalk and brick street as needed.  Over time, pallets that hold brick rot and it was shown that it is not reasonable to palletize a large quantity of the bricks as they are removed, since it would require additional effort in the future if they were to be moved in large quantities. 

Removal strategies for 9^th Street generally follow three steps to reduce damage to the bricks: Limit height of drops from excavator bucket to dump truck, use round bottom dump trucks, separate “good brick loads” by placing them at one end of the pile and “poor brick loads” at the other end of the pile. When a project needs the salvaged brick in the future, the brick pile will be palletized for transport to the new project site. LPA representatives were generally satisfied with the tour and offered to organize volunteer forces to palletize bricks in advance of future uses – to reduce contractor/City construction costs. They were also supportive of finding alternative uses for materials that were not fit for re-use in streets.