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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-18-2014 C2 Downtown Renewal ProjectCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Agenda Report, Meeting Date, Item Number FROM: Daryl R. Grigsby, Public Works Director Prepared By: Bridget Fraser, Senior Civil Engineer SUBJECT: DOWNTOWN RENEWAL PROJECT: HIGUERA STREET – GARDEN TO BROAD; SPECIFICATION NO. 91320 RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Approve plans and specifications for the "Downtown Renewal Project, Specification No. 91320,” and authorize staff to advertise for construction bids. 2. Authorize the City Manager to award the construction contract if bids are within the Engineer’s Estimate of $473,000. 3. Authorize the Finance Director to issue a purchase order up to $35,000 for tree grates for use on the project. 4. Re-allocate $79,000 from the $1.7 million Measure Y designated contingency to the project’s construction account to support project construction costs. DISCUSSION Background In the 2007-09 Financial Plan the City Council approved a Major City Goal for Downtown Maintenance and Beautification and as an Other Important Objective in 2009-11. Past work included street resurfacing, pedestrian light installation, new Mission-style sidewalk and tree grates, tree removal, replacement and maintenance, new trash cans, painting of street and traffic light poles and other similar improvements. In a continuing effort to maintain and enhance the downtown, the Council again approved a Major City Goal to Assess and Renew the Downtown as part of the 2013- 15 Financial Plan. New Project This project is a continuation of the recent reinvestment in downtown renewal as evidenced by the construction project completed the spring of 2012. The work contained in this bid specification was originally bid with the 2012 project; however, insufficient funds were available at that time to award this work. The proposed work will occur on both sides of Higuera Street between Garden and Broad and will include new Mission-style sidewalks, new tree grates, removing and replacing diseased or dying trees, new trash cans and bike racks, pole painting, and conduits and pull boxes to support a future Downtown Association tree lighting project. The project will also include provision of designated accessible parking spaces. This project is scheduled to begin in February 2015 with proposed working hours of 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. (Attachment 1). City Furnished Tree Grates During the 2012 project, the completion was delayed considerably while waiting for the tree grates due to the long lead time (up to 22 weeks). For this project, staff recommends ordering the tree grates while the project is in the bidding stage and furnishing them to the contractor for installation. The City’s standard tree grates are able to be purchased from two companies – Southbay Foundry of Santee, CA and Olympic Foundry of Port Orchard, WA. After receiving authorization from the City Nov. 18, 2014 C2 - 1 Downtown Renewal Project; Specification No. 91320 Page 2 Council, quotes will be requested from both and a purchase order issued to the company with the lowest price. Noise Sensitive Uses Downtown During the 2012 project, a few complaints (3-4) were received by Public Works staff regarding the noise in the early hours of the morning. Most calls came from the immediate vicinity (1-2 blocks) of the work, but one was received from as far away as four blocks (Manse on Marsh). In August of this year, building owners and tenants listed in the City’s mailing data base within a two- block radius of the proposed work, and the tenants of the Manse on Marsh, Anderson Hotel and Granada Hotel outside of the 2 block radius (total of 600+ mailings) were notified of the new project and the proposed 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. work hours. The primary purpose of this outreach was to be sure downtown residents had an opportunity for their concerns to be heard regarding early hour construction noise. To date, two residents have contacted staff regarding the work hours. One of these residents, along with members of Save Our Downtown, met with staff to ask the City to give more consideration to downtown residents and their need for sleep. The City’s Noise Control Ordinance prohibits construction noise between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Exceptions may be granted by the Community Development Department (CDD) Director for special circumstances. As was done with the 2012 project, a night time work application has been submitted for the work, requesting authorization to work between 2 am and 7 am. As part of this process- in addition to the notice sent in August - CDD will provide notification to the downtown owners and tenants again informing them of the proposed work hours and their rights to appeal the Director’s decision to the Council. Mitigation measures are incorporated into the plans and specifications requiring the contractor to minimize noise impacts. For example, demolition work such as jack hammering and saw cutting cannot occur before 6 a.m. Construction noise cannot be entirely eliminated but moving the “noisier” work items to occur after 6 a.m. may lessen the impact. Other examples of noise mitigation measures include muffling of generators and power equipment with sound blankets, asking workers to not shout or idle trucks unnecessarily. The project was reviewed with the Downtown Association Board at their October 14, 2014 meeting where the scope, timeline, and work hours were discussed, including the concerns of the downtown residents. The Board did not express any concerns regarding the February start date, and supported the 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. work hours as it worked well in the 2012 project and did not support a shift in hours. CONCURRENCES The Tree Committee previously approved the removal and replacement of two trees, as shown on the vicinity map. Since the original review, the City Arborist recommended removal and replacement of two additional trees due to poor health and growth. The Tree Committee was presented with that information at their August 25, 2014 meeting, and approved the additional removals at their September 30, 2014 meeting. C2 - 2 Downtown Renewal Project; Specification No. 91320 Page 3 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The Community Development Department has determined that this project falls under the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) prepared in 2007 in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for utility work in the Downtown Core. There have been no changes to the work, any changed circumstances or new information requiring the need to amend the 2007 MND for utility work in the Downtown Core. FISCAL IMPACT The 2013-15 Financial Plan, pages 3-232 through 3-233 of the Capital Improvement Plan, identifies $505,000 of Measure Y funds to support the construction phase of this project. Current budget and estimated construction costs are as follows: Current Budget: Measure Y/General Funds $505,000 Estimated Construction Phase Costs: Construction estimate: Sidewalk, curb & gutter, trees and grates $361,000 Amenities - trash cans, pole painting, bike racks $27,000 Tree lighting conduit & pull boxes $85,000 Total Construction Estimate $473,000 Other Construction Phase Costs: City-purchased tree grates $35,000 Tree trimming (On-call contract)$5,000 Archaeological monitoring (On-call contract)$7,000 Materials testing (On-call contract)$3,000 Misc., printing, advertising $1,000 Project Contingencies $60,000 Total Other Construcion Phase Costs:$111,000 Total Estimated Construction Phase Costs$584,000 Construction Phase Shortfall ($79,000) As shown above, estimated construction costs exceed the available budget. Costs shown are based on bids received for this area of work in 2012. An additional $79,000 is required to cover the estimated construction phase costs. Since this additional amount is a one-time need, and the project is funded by Measure Y and an element of a Major City Council Goal, staff recommends covering the $79,000 shortfall from the $1.7 million that was set-aside as a contingency should the existing half-percent sales tax not be extended. On November 4, 2014 the voters approved Measure G, the extension of the existing half-percent sales tax. This action is consistent with the City’s budget policy to expend one-time revenue on one-time projects. C2 - 3 Downtown Renewal Project; Specification No. 91320 Page 4 ALTERNATIVES Reduce the work scope. The work scope could be reduced in order to reduce or eliminate the shortfall. This could be accomplished by: a) Eliminating some of the amenities such as new trash cans, bike racks and painting of the traffic poles would save approximately $27,000, reducing the shortfall to $51,000. Staff does not recommend this alternative as this would essentially leave the goal for enhancement unmet. b) Eliminating the tree lighting infrastructure would save $85,000, thus, eliminating the shortfall entirely. Staff does not recommend this alternative as it makes sense to install this infrastructure while the sidewalks are under construction. Delaying it will cause another disruption of this block in the future as well as requiring removal of new sidewalk to install the boxes. c) Reducing the amount of sidewalk replacement would reduce costs. Approximately 1,500 square feet of sidewalk (or approximately 25-30% of the sidewalk) would be eliminated from the contract to cover the shortfall. This will leave a portion of the block of Higuera Street between Garden and Broad unfinished. Should the Council select any of the above alternatives to reduce the work scope, it will be included in the contract as Bid Alternates. In the event bids are lower than anticipated, it can be included in the final contract. ATTACHMENT 1. Vicinity Map AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE Plans and specifications \\chstore6\team\council agenda reports\2014\2014-10-07\downtown renewal project (grigsby-fraser)\91320 ecar downtown renewal - adv.docx C2 - 4 ATTACHMENT 1 C2 - 5 Page intentionally left blank. C2 - 6