City Council Newsletter - 09/27/07

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who might be involved with the City’s building permit and plan review process. Content includes new fire safety regulations, reminders, requests for input and feedback, and progress reports on work requested. The hope is that the bulletins will lead to a more inclusive and transparent plan review process and that the input received will assist in the development of user-friendly procedures for complying with building safety codes. For more information, please contact Fire Marshal Mike Thrapp at 682-8360. Trenchless Repair System Fixes Damaged Sewer Line Without Cutting Pavement th The new asphalt overlay on West 18 Avenue was barely cooled last week when a report came in to Public Works Maintenance: a building sewer line under the newly paved street was blocked and needed to be repaired. In the past, the solution would have been to dig up the street, expose the sewer line, replace the damaged section of pipe, and then backfill and repave the street. Thanks to new equipment similar to that used on a much larger scale in the City’s contracted sewer rehab projects, a Maintenance crew was able to make this repair without cutting the pavement. The first step was to expose the building sewer behind Crew drapes patch over inflatable bladder the curb, in an area of dirt and grass. Once a small camera had been inserted into the underground line, the problem became clear. An electrical conduit installed at some point in the past had been bored through the 6-inch-diameter concrete sewer line. Perhaps jiggled by the vibrations from the street surface work, the sandy subsurface fill trickled into the breached line and eventually plugged it. Working from behind the curb, the Public Works Maintenance subsurface crew vacuumed out the pipe. Then they applied a silica resin to a fiberglass patch, draped the patch resin-side-up over a deflated rubber bladder, carefully inserted the bladder into the pipe, lined up the patch with the damaged area, and inflated the bladder. Three hours later, the patch was firmly in place and the bladder was deflated and removed. As a final step, still working behind the curb, the crew used a self-hardening slurry to aid in filling the void above the hole. “This trenchless repair system was perfect for the job,” says PWM Engineering Associate Rich Heil. “It gave us a tight-fitting patch that even appears to have lifted up the electrical conduit. And it let us do the work without the cost and disruption of cutting up the street.” For more information, contact Rich Heil at 682-4990. Recreation Program Manager Recognized The Lane County Coalition to Prevent Substance Abuse selected Recreation Manager Craig Smith to receive the Excellence in Prevention Award for his hard work and dedication in the area of prevention. Craig has been a key player in bringing greater awareness of the 40 Developmental Assets to the community and has experienced great success in his program development at Petersen Barn and the River House. He and three other recipients will be honored at the 7th Annual Prevention Celebration Dinner at the Valley River Inn, September 26. For information, contact Sandy Shafer, 682-6338. City Hosts National Fire Sprinkler Association In another example of regional use of the Fire & EMS Department's training facilities, the Fire Prevention Section this week hosted the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) for three days of training in the design, installation, and maintenance of fire sprinkler systems. About 60 students, including fire safety inspectors and construction professionals from Alaska, Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, received instruction from NFSA National Training Director John Corso, the former Fire Chief of Louisville, Ky. NFSA is the largest sprinkler advocacy and education organization in the world. This is the fourth year that Eugene Fire & EMS has had the privilege of hosting this regional training. In exchange for providing the venue, City of Eugene employees were granted a waiver of tuition. For more information, please contact Assistant Fire Marshal Doug Perry at 682-5887. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 September 27, 2007