TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Public Works Director
Prem Kumar, City Engineer
Gilbert Gamboa, Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Discuss and Provide Direction for 7TH Street Walk Street Reconstruction (Public Works Director Olmos).
APPROVE
Line
_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss and provide direction for the 7th Street pedestrian walk street reconstruction.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Fiscal implications as outlined in this report will be dependent on City Council direction.
BACKGROUND:
The Sewer Main Rehabilitation Project was awarded by City Council on February 2, 2016 in the amount of $1,280,000. The City Council also authorized a not-to-exceed $128,000 contingency fund for potential additional work that could be authorized by the City Manager during construction. The scope of work entails replacement of over 2,300 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe at the following four project street locations in the City’s Sand Section:
1. 3rd Street - Ingleside Drive to Crest Drive
2. 4th Street - Ingleside Drive to Valley Drive
3. Ingleside Drive - 5th Street to 7th Street
4. 7th Street - Valley Drive to Crest Drive (pedestrian walk-street)
The sequence of work includes installation of sewer mains, connection of sewer laterals, and restoration of the trench and surface pavement. To date, the contractor has completed all work on Ingleside Drive. The contractor has also completed the sewer work on 7th Street and is awaiting direction from the City on surface pavement restoration work. The contractor is currently working to complete the sewer work on 4th Street and then on 3rd Street. Based on the progress made so far, the contractor anticipates completing all work sometime in mid-August 2016.
Shortly after the award of construction contract, the residents along 7th Street raised concerns regarding the proposed surface treatment design, which included the installation of pervious pavers along a portion of the walk street. The pervious pavers were proposed as a “green sustainable conscientious solution” that will reduce site runoff and allow for runoff infiltration. In response to the concerns, City staff facilitated a community meeting on March 22, 2016 and presented a power point presentation to summarize all the viable pavement treatments and gather input from the property owners (Attachment 1).
After the meeting and at the request of the residents, City staff followed up with the distribution of a survey for all 7th Street property owners to solicit feedback on the design options discussed at the meeting (Attachment 2). Although City staff stated the reasons why subsurface drainage was not one of the viable options at the meeting, this option was included in the survey at the request of the residents. The survey was issued on April 19, 2016 and responses were received on April 28, 2016.
From the feedback received, the majority of the residents that responded to the survey supported the installation of a Slot Drain System on each side of the concrete walk street. Although the survey was not intended to be a vote, staff respected the feedback and calculated a cost estimate for the preferred slot drain system and concluded it will cost an additional $96,000 to design/construct. The results of the survey was shared with the property owners through a letter dated May 11, 2016 where City staff stated its intent to reconstruct the walk street in-kind since there was not adequate project budget to fund the improvement and the construction contingency was for unforeseen or changed field conditions and typically not for added scope-of-work (Attachment 3). Reconstructing the walk street in-kind is consistent with the first alternative presented at the March 22, 2016 community meeting, which is the City standard practice for walk streets.
DISCUSSION:
The property owners believe that the slotted drain concept is a preferred amenity specific to this neighborhood to handle nuisance flows (dry-weather runoff) coming from adjacent properties. However, the City standard practice is to assure that streets properly drain during storms, which typically will not include subsurface drainage systems unless the street does not have enough positive grade to adequately drain.
Due to the cost and schedule impacts to the current construction contract and possible implications for future walk street reconstruction projects, staff requests for City Council direction on the alternatives discussed below. Options 1 and 2 were discussed at the March 22 community meeting and in the May 11 letter to residents. Option 3 is new and provides a potential phased approach. A summary of all of the options discussed with the community along with additional details regarding these three options will be presented in a separate Power Point Presentation at the meeting.
Option 1:
• Replace the concrete walk street surface in kind
• Anticipated costs is $223,000
• Impact to schedule is minimal due to re-design and can be completed by late July 2016
• This option is less costly than original planned concrete/pervious paver combination cost of $303,000
Option 2:
• Replace the concrete walk street with slotted drain
• Anticipated costs is $399,000 (or higher due to potential Contractor delay claim)
• $96,000 more than originally planned concrete/pervious paver cost
• Impact to schedule is significant due to redesign and lead time to acquire slotted drains and construction may be completed by end of September.
Option 3:
• Retrofit the concrete walk street with slotted drains at least one year after construction
• Anticipated additional costs of $222,000
• Construction work can be completed in less than one month after the slotted drains are acquired (8 week lead time)
Option 3 allows the property owner to evaluate the concrete walk way reconstruction per standard City standard practice and make a determination if the slotted drain system is still preferred. This option will also provide additional time to identify alternate funding mechanism to pay for construction and maintenance of these drains. Staff believes the maintenance effort will require one laborer to spend four hours per week during the summer months and about four to eight hours per month for the rest of the year to clean and maintain the slotted drain system. Otherwise, it may result in undesirable smell and mosquito breeding due to stagnant water trapped in clogged drains.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/INTEREST:
A community meeting was held on March 22, 2016 and a property owner survey was conducted in April/May 2016.
Project Schedule
Impacts to project schedule will be further discussed in the City Council meeting.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The project was processed as categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15301, Class 1(b). A Notice of Exemption has been filed with the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office for the project.
Attachments:
1. Community Meeting Power Point Presentation from March 22, 2016
2. Community Survey
3. Survey Results Response Letter