HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/04/1990, 4 - CIVIC CENTER IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT PROCEEDING TO CONCEPTUAL DESIGN MEETING DATE:
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UNIGn COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT NBA:
FROM: David F. Romero, Public Works Director
David Elliott, Administrative Analyst/Project Manager
SUBJECT: Civic Center Improvements Project
Proceeding to Conceptual Design
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1) Approve the preliminary programming work presented in the City
of San Luis Obispo Civic Center Improvements Proiect
Architectural Program - February 1990
2) Direct staff and the project architect to follow the consensus
of council direction for conceptual design as outlined in this
report
3) Review the summary of comments expressed by the city council,
planning commission and architectural review commission at
their joint study session on 2/21/90
4) Approve and authorize the mayor to execute Amendment No. 1 to
the city's architectural services agreement with Grant •
Pedersen Phillips Architects, which outlines the scope of work
and fees for conceptual design and a civic center master plan
5) Direct staff to include in the short range transit plan for
SLO Transit an evaluation of downtown sites suitable for the
transit transfer center
BACKGROUND:
At a joint study session of the city council, planning commission
and architectural review commission on 2/21/90, Project Architect
Fred Sweeney presented the preliminary architectural program for
the civic center improvements project. A summary of comments
offered by councilmembers and commissioners is attached.
Overall the councilmembers and commissioners seemed to agree that
the civic center improvements project is on the right track and
that the preliminary programming is a good synthesis of previous
council and commission directions. After considering the
commissioners' comments, the council also seemed to reach the
following consensus of direction for conceptual design:
1) Include improvements which would make the council chamber
easier and more inviting for officials, staffinembers and the
public to use.
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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Civic Center Improvements Project
Proceeding to Conceptual Design
page 2
2) Plan for accommodating space needs farther into the future,
beyond the year 2010.
3) Address immediate parking needs for the city hall building
through a trip reduction plan which encourages transportation
options other than driving autos; in the civic center master
plan, identify parking locations and refine the concept of the
terraced park with underground parking as one possible
solution to long term parking needs.
4) Emphasize and strengthen the existing formal entrance at city
hall.
5) Continue work on a civic center master plan which will guide
development of Palm Street and its surrounding parcels between
Santa Rosa and Chorro Streets.
6) Find another appropriate location for the transit transfer
center.
For items 1 through 5, staff has incorporated these directions
into an amendment to the city's architectural services agreement
with Grant Pedersen Phillips Architects, which outlines the scope
of work and fees for conceptual design and a civic center master '
plan.
The conceptual design would refine the architectural program to
more precisely specify building and site characteristics
(including space sizes, adjacencies, circulation patterns,
safety/security measures, ambient conditions, solar orientation,
materials, furnishings and flexibility) . At the end of
conceptual design, work products would be submitted for the first
formal planning and architectural reviews.
The civic center master plan would establish the general physical
characteristics of proposed improvements to properties within the
civic center area. The overall plan would include a physical
plan, a circulation plan and an implementation plan.
For item 6, direction for the transit transfer center might best
be included in the city's short and long term transit planning.
During 1990/91 the city will prepare a short range transit plan
for the five year period between 1991 and 1996 (see page D-47 of
the 1989/91 Financial Plan) . This short term plan could
recommend a new transit transfer location in the downtown with
minimal facilities. Then a long term comprehensive transit j
master plan (which would study future patronage trends along with
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MOGe COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Civic Center Improvements Project
Proceeding to Conceptual Design
page 3
possible route and schedule changes) could recommend the proper
site for permanent transfer facilities, perhaps even considering
locations outside of the downtown.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The architectural services agreement calls for the architect to
conduct his study and design work in five consecutive steps:
programming, conceptual design, schematic design, design
development and construction documents. The council must
authorize each successive step.
The architect has completed the programming step at a cost of
$30,000. The proposed cost for conceptual design is $95,300, and
the proposed cost for a civic center master plan is $40,400. A
budget amendment request is attached which transfers $150,000
from the capital outlay fund CIP appropriation to the project
study account to cover contracted costs plus contingencies.
The 1987-89 Financial Plan (page E-15) designated $350, 000 from
�_. the capital outlay fund for study and design on this project.
The 1989-91 Financial Plan (page E-12) designated an additional
$250,000 from the capital outlay fund for design. There is about
$560,000 remaining from these two sources.
The total study and design cost (through construction documents)
will depend on refined construction cost estimates which the
architect will prepare in the schematic design step.
USING THE OLD LIBRARY BUILDING:
In 1986 the city hired Ventura Group Architects to study the
feasibility of renovating the old library building to provide
office space for city hall. At the 2/21/90 study session there
seemed to be some misunderstanding about Ventura Group's
recommendation. The report stated that for about $300, 000 the
city could renovate the old library for use as office space. But
the report ultimately concluded that this solution would serve
only very short term needs; and that money would be better spent
for a new building on the same site. After reviewing this
report, two other architects (West+Doubledee, which prepared the
facilities master plan, and Grant Pedersen Phillips) have
concurred with this recommendation. Incidentally, comments from
these architects along with costs of recent remodeling efforts at
city hall show that the $300,000 estimate was very low.
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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Civic Center Improvements Project
Proceeding to Conceptual Design
page 4
Three independent studies have confirmed an immediate need for
14,000 more square feet and an eventual need by the year 2010 for
another 13, 000 square feet to house city hall activities. The
city has temporarily gained about 6,000 square feet by remodeling
the building at 955 Morro Street, leaving an existing shortfall
of about 8,000 square feet. Renovating the old library would
provide another 9,600 square feet but would present several
compromises:
• Because of its awkward configuration, it might just barely
accommodate even short term needs.
• It could not accommodate programmed long term space needs.
• It would be poorly arranged for office space and public
access.
• Its large windows and lack of insulation would make it
expensive to heat and cool.
• Its floor elevations would create an awkward transition to the
existing city hall.
• City hall offices would be spread over three separate
locations.
In short, investing a substantial amount of money in a
dilapidated, poorly laid out building to satisfy only short term
requirements would be ill-advised.
SUMMARY:
The civic center improvements project presents an exciting
opportunity to increase the effectiveness of the city hall
workforce and to develop an attractive civic center. The
generally positive comments at the February study session show
that the project architect has responsively incorporated
suggestions from councilmembers and commissioners into his
preliminary work. Staff believes that the city should proceed
with the next step of the study and design, which includes
conceptual design and a civic center master plan. If the council
approves this action, staff and the project architect will brief
new planning commissioners and architectural review commissioners
about progress to date.
attach: Summary of Comments on Preliminary Programming
Amendment No. 1 to Agreement
CIVIC CENTER IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT
SUMMARY OF COMMENTS ABOUT PRELIMINARY PROGRAMMING
(comments of the city council, planning commission and architectural review commission about
findings of the architectural programming presented at a joint study session on 2/21/90)
BUILDING SCALE AND BALANCE:
• At the customer service entrance near the corner of Palm and Morro, consider keeping the
foyer one story instead of two stories tall in order to reduce the height of the building there
and to incorporate the terraced effect of the existing city hall.
• Consider reducing the height of the elevator tower and/or setting the tower farther back from
Palm Street..
• Consider placing a large building element (like the elevator tower) near the corner of Palm and
Osos for balance.
BUILDING PROGRAM:
• Include more building area and place most of the additional area up against the AT&T
building.
• Think about growth and expansion after the year 2010. Either provide more building area
now or carefully plan how the next expansion might evolve.
• Prepare a master plan for the long term and show more precisely how a future building might
expand onto the rear parking lot.
• Take a look at improving the council chamber, with particular attention on acoustics;
sightlines, lighting, visual presentation and accessibility for disabled people.
• As conceptual design begins, refine the building program to include inose detailed and focused
objectives.
• Reexamine functional relationships between various city hall activities and incorporate
conclusions in the program document.
• Providing enough flexibility in the building to incorporate future social functions like child
care.
CIRCULATION AND ENTRANCES:
• Consider 1) facing the customer service entrance toward Morro Street instead of Palm Street or
2) facing the customer service entrance at an angle toward both Morro and Palm Streets.
• Plan the two main entrances (one formal entrance and one customer service entrance)
l^ carefully. Emphasize the formal entrance; don't let the customer service entrance dominate.
��J
Civic Center Improvements Project O
Summary of Comments about Preliminary Programming
Page
• Build up the formal main entrance to city hall even more than the original architect intended.
• Consider building the sidewalk bulbouts on Palm Street so that they extend in front of the
main entrances to city hall and the new library. Use this design element to better unify and
align these two entrances.
SITE DEVELOPMENT:
• Articulate more clearly the intended toes for open spaces.
• Carefully refine the open spaces to fit their intended uses, with particular attention on
accommodating pedestrian traffic.
• Continue refining the civic center master plan and ideas for off-site improvements.
• Look for opportunities to refine open space around the county government center.
• Preserving the tall redwood trees is commendable, but do some study to determine 1) their
existing health and expected longevity and 2) their chances of surviving construction and
thriving under different conditions.
• Don't let the location of the redwood trees dictate building design. Over the long term, an
efficient building shape along with newly planted trees may be more sensible.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT(PARKING AND TRANSIT):
• Move the bus transfer facilities out of the civic center as soon as practical.
• Address immediate parking needs by developing a traffic reduction plan and making this plan
a model for large-scale downtown development.
• Acknowledge the need for short-term parking (1/2 hour or less) near the service entrance at
Palm and Morro and near the library entrance.
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i
AMENDMENT NO. 1
TO
AGREEMENT
ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
FOR THE CIVIC CENTER IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT
(OUTLINING THE SCOPE OF WORK AND FEES FOR CONCEPTUAL PT_ UAL DESIGN
AND A CIVIC CENTER MASTER PLAN)
The agreement titled "Agreement - Architectural Services for the Civic Improvements Project"
made on 3rd day of January, 1989 between the City of San Luis Obispo and Grant Pedersen
Phillips Architects is amended to add the following paragraphs to Section III. Scope of Architect's
Work:
"C. CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
1. Tasks
a. Prepare a refined architectural program which
(1) incorporates the City Council's comments and direction regarding the preliminary
programming
(2) establishes the general physical characteristics (including space sizes, adjacencies,
circulation patterns, safety/security measures, ambient conditions, solar
orientation, materials, furnishings and flexibility) of proposed building and site
i improvements
(3) includes a trip reduction plan prepared according to directions presented in the
City's general plan circulation element.
b. Present the refined architectural program to the City Council
c. Based upon the approved program, submit conceptual work products (site plans, floor
plans, elevations, furnishing plans, site and building study models, perspectives, and
cost estimates) for conceptual planning and architectural review
d. Present the conceptual work products to the Architectural Review Commission
e. Obtain Architectural Review Commission approval of the conceptual design and City
Council authority to proceed with schematic design
2. Required Meetings in San Luis Obispo
a. Site inspections
b. Interviews with building users
c. Meetings with the City's project manager/building committee
d. Two Architectural Review Commission meetings
e. One City Council meeting
3. Compensation
a. Fee: $95,300 plus $650.00 for each additional City Council or commission meeting not
listed in Section III.C.2
b. Progress Payments, By completing tasks a through d in Section III.C.1 the Architect
shall earn $76,240. By completing task a the Architect shall earn $19,060. No oftener
than once each month the Architect may submit a progress payment request for
conceptual design work completed. Before a progress payment request may be
submitted, the Architect's project architect and the City's project manager shall agree
on the percentage of the conceptual design completed and the fee earned. Within 14
days of receiving a progress payment request the City shall issue payment for the fee
earned.
C �
Amendment No.1
Agreement-Architectural Services For the Civic Center Improvements Project
Page 2
4. Time for Completion
a. Task a in Section III.C.1: 90 calendar days after the Architect receives written
authorization to proceed from the City's project manager
b. Tasks b through a in Section III.C.1: as scheduled
D. CIVIC CENTER MASTER PLAN
1. Tasks
a. Prepare a refined civic center master plan for the blocks bounded by Monterey,
Chorro, Palm and Santa Rosa Streets which
(1) incorporates the City Council's comments and directions
(2) establishes the general physical characteristics (including building locations, open
space locations and configurations, parking locations, pedestrian path locations,
design standards) of proposed improvements to properties within the plan area.
(3) supplements downtown land use policies
(4) shows precisely how a building annex might expand onto the rear parking lot at
city hall sometime after the year 2010
(5.) schedules proposed improvements
(6) lists what property the city should acquire
b. Present the refined civic center master plan work products (physical plan, circulation
plan, implementation plan) to the City Council, Planning Commission and
Architectural Review Commission
c. Obtain City Council approval of the refined civic center master plan which would
establish policy for future development within the civic center
d. Tasks not included:
(1) architectural programming and detailed architectural design for individual
buildings other than the city hall expansion annex
(2) needs assessments
(3) traffic studies
(4) detailed landscape design
2. Required Meetings in San Luis Obispo
a. Site inspections
b. Meetings with the City's project manager/building committee
c. One joint study session of the City Council, Planning Commission and Architectural
Review Commission
d. One City Council meeting for final approval
3. Compensation
a. Fee: $40,400 plus$650.00 for each additional City Council or commission meeting not
listed in Section III.D.2
b. Progress Payments. By completing tasks a and b in Section III.D.1 the Architect shall
earn $32,320. By completing task c in Section III.D.1 the Architect shall earn $8,080.
No oftener than once each month the Architect may submit a progress payment
request for civic center master plan work completed. Before a progress payment
request may be submitted, the Architect's project architect and the City's project
manager shall agree on the percentage of the conceptual design completed and the fee
earned. Within 14 days of receiving a progress payment request.the City shall issue
payment for the fee earned.
Amendment No. 1
_ Agreement-Architectural Services For the Civic Center Improvements Project
Page 3
4. Time for Completion
a. Task a of Section III.D.I: 90 calendar days after the Architect receives written
authorization to proceed from the City's project manager
b. Tasks b and c of Section III.D.I,• as scheduled"
This amendment is executed by the following authorized representatives:
FOR THE ARCHITECT:
Principal
date
FOR THE CITY:
Mayor
date
Attest:
City Clerk
APPROVED FOR FORM:
orae
�-9
MEETING AGENDA
D 7
IAT ;ITEM #
112 Broad Street -nos ac- in by
San Lu i sObi spo
O �&spond by:
CALIFORNIA 93405 MCouncil
April 1 , 1990 G
City Council I T^Atty.
City of San Luis Obispo 17brM.;60
990 Palm St .
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 r3. 4. Z70-W,9 S
Dear City Council :
I am saddened to see that you move ahead with the new city hall
despite danger signals that have been raised by myself and others.
I am also saddened to see that apparently the case supporting the
new civic palace is so intellectually flimsy that it continues to
be necessary to purvey lies and distortions in the staff report in
order to make the project look good.
I am also very weary of trying to speak to a city council which
makes it so abundantly clear it doesn' t care what anyone else
thinks.
So I shall not repeat what I have said in the past , but merely
summarize :
1 . The true cost of this project, will be in the vicinity of $7
million , and there is no way that is justifiable .
2. True costs are being hidden and distorted by staff analysis.
3. Rehabilitation/expansion of the existing building
ng is feasible ,
cost effective and could result in a first class facility for a
tiny fraction of the cost of starting from scratch .
4. No analysis has been done of expansion possibilities for the
library, and some of those possibilities are. so obvious that
anyone with 20-400 vision could see them at a glance.
5. Other than my own letter to you on the subject , there has been
no credible historical analysis of the existing library.
Apparently you place no stock in my views, despite the fact I earn
my living as an architectural historian , which is more than anyone
else connected with the project to date can claim. The CHC action
was a farce , and the CHC is not equipped to deal with recent
buildings.
That is all past .
In the present , I note that the architect has a nice little money
machine cranked up , judging from the six phases of his work and
the sorts of prices charged for each . On the basis of architect
fees alone , the above estimate of $7 million will probably prove
insufficient !
The premise behind the need for the new city palace is that staff
i
must be housed nicely. But has anyone backed up to see how many
staff we really need?
I have lived in San Luis Obispo now for 20 years. When I came ,
the entire staff resided on one floor in city hall . The staff was
efficient , and the quality of civic service good. In those 20
years, the city's population has gone up by slightly more than one
third, and the staff has mushroomed many times over . I believe
that today although we have a bigger staff than ever , we get far
less work per staff person and the quality of goverrim"t and
service in the city is inferior to what we had 20 years ago. Size
has not improved quality. Bigger is .not better . Perhaps you need
to pare down the staff rather than build a larger container for
them and their progeny.
Today we have , under this council 's watch, situations that are
truly incredible and demonstrate how corrupt to the core our city
government has become :
-- highly paid executive staff clowning around instead of working;
-- staff undercutting and ignoring laws and the general and
specific plans that the council and others have worked so hard to
create ;
-- projects being built in direct contravention of conditions
placed upon them by the council at time of approval .
City government has became a team of headless horsemen . There is
no leadership and no control . While the council plays with its
edifice complex , the city and its government go to hell in a
handbasket .
I think your priorities are very misplaced.
Sincerely,
4ta.,J
Richard Schmidt
3. RECREATION CENTER REHABILITATION (STOCKTONJ814 - 30 min.)
Report not received by agenda close. To be distributed under
separate cover.