Residents whose driveways are disturbed can choose to reconstruction their entire driveway, at their expense, as part of the Driveway Reconstruction Program . During preliminary project design, the City considers the impacts of various street layouts. Although these layouts are revised whenever possible to minimize removal of trees and shrubs, sometimes removal is unavoidable. In these cases, engineering staff and the City Forester work with property owners to mitigate the removals by planting new trees and shrubs. Each year, City staff determines which streets are the highest priority for rehabilitation and asks the City Council to authorize a feasibility report.
Staff then performs preliminary survey and design work and meets with the affected property owners.
Using the information it gathers, staff prepares a feasibility report to present to the City Council at a public hearing. Staff also sends public hearing notification to each resident along streets being considered for rehabilitation at least 10 days before the hearing. At the public hearing, staff provides the Council and residents with the findings of the feasibility report, which includes information about preliminary design, estimated costs, and preliminary special assessments. Residents then have the opportunity to comment, pro or con, on the proposed project. After the hearing is closed, the City Council votes to determine whether or not the project goes forward.