TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Tony Olmos, Director of Public Works
Edward Kao, Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Approve Final Payment to Ruiz Brothers - Fast-Track Construction Joint Venture for the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project; Formally Accept the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project as Complete; Authorize Filing of the Appropriate Notice of Completion and Release Retention (Public Works Director Olmos).
APPROVE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve final payment in the amount of $25,758.27 to Ruiz Brothers - Fast-Track Construction Joint Venture for the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project;
2. Formally accept the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project as complete and authorize filing of the appropriate Notice of Completion;
3. Approve release of retention in the amount of $4,765.70.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The project was completed within the project budget of $95,400 (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND:
There are currently two major recreational features located along the City’s entire two mile coastline, a pedestrian walkway (Strand) owned and maintained by the City and the Marvin-Braude Bike Path (Bike Path) owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. The Bike Path is situated to the west of the Strand and is separated from the Strand by a vegetated slope of varying widths and grade.
The proposed improvements will provide safe access from the Strand to the beach and will comply with current ADA requirements. The proposed improvements are being constructed under two separate projects. The first and larger project includes the reconstruction of 20 existing stairs located between the Strand and the Bike Path. This larger project was previously advertised for bids, but due to high bids will be rebid in late November 2015. The second project also known as the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project and the topic of this staff report includes repairs and aesthetic treatment to retaining walls located at 14th Street, 16th Street, 18th Street, 20th Street, and Rosecrans Avenue.
At the October 20, 2015 City Council meeting, staff provided an update on both projects. In regards to the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project, staff reported there were notable differences between the City Council approved design and the final construction for the project and provided an explanation as to the cause. Staff acknowledged that construction on the project should have stopped when the project design was evolving away from the City Council approved design and should have solicited City Council input on any of the proposed changes.
Moving forward, the Strand Stairs Project is expected to start construction in early 2016. As construction of the Strand Stairs project nears completion in mid-2016, staff will present City Council with specific design modification options to the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project to assure that both the wall treatments and the new Strand Stairs match in color and appearance.
Although there were issues with the final appearance of the project, the contractor completed the project as directed by the project team and met all of their contractual obligations.
DISCUSSION:
On March 4, 2015, City Council awarded a construction contract to Ruiz Brothers - Fast-Track Construction Joint Venture for the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project in the amount of $79,500 and approved a construction contingency of $15,900.
The Contractor has completed the work and is requesting formal acceptance of the work and final payment in the amount of $25,758.27. The final payment includes work required under Change Order No. 1 for work requested by the City. The Change Order included work for unanticipated construction required after the existing paint on the five Strand walls had been removed. Once the paint had been sandblasted away, it was discovered that the walls had very little aggregate in the concrete and was not able to produce the “sandblasted, exposed aggregate” effect that the original design envisioned.
Furthermore, the walls had been patched and repaired several times over the past 80+ years, which left many spots of concrete with different colors and textures. The decision was made to paint over the concrete walls in order to cover the inconsistency. The color of the wave patterns also did not turn out to have the shade as the original design expected. Additional layers were applied to the wave patterns to increase the contrast. As a result, the final products deviated from the originally approved concepts.
The Contractor has completed the work as directed. All work has been inspected by the Public Works Department and found to be in conformance with the plans, specifications, and City direction.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve final payment in the amount of $25,758.27 to Ruiz Brothers - Fast-Track Construction Joint Venture for the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project;
2. Formally accept the Strand Wall Repair and Enhancement Project as complete and authorize filing of the appropriate Notice of Completion;
3. Approve release of retention in the amount of $4,765.70.
Attachments:
1. Budget and Expenditures