Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Amendment to an Agreement with Verde Design Landscape Architects to Add an Amount Not to Exceed $35,300 for a Total Agreement Amount Not to Exceed $209,445 for Design Services for Estuary Park. (Recreation and Parks 91311)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Elizabeth D. Warmerdam, Interim City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Amendment to an Agreement with Verde Design Landscape Architects to Add an Amount Not to Exceed $35,300 for a Total Agreement Amount Not to Exceed $209,445 for Design Services for Estuary Park
BACKGROUND
Estuary Park is eight acres located on Mosely Avenue near Singleton Avenue. The park's baseball field and soccer field were previously used by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and later, the community. The park and athletic fields have lain dormant for many years and have fallen into an unusable state of disrepair.
The Alameda Recreation and Park Department (ARPD) issued a Request for Qualifications for Landscape Architect firms to design an Estuary Park renovation. Four firms were selected for interviews, the interview panel unanimously chose Verde Design. The City Council awarded the consulting contract to Verde Design in January 2014.
Staff has been working closely with Verde Design on the design of Estuary Park since February 2014. Staff solicited and incorporated input on the conceptual design from youth athletic user groups. On May 8, 2014, the Recreation and Parks Commission reviewed and recommended the conceptual design. On July 14, 2014, the Planning Board recommended the conceptual design with the inclusion of two design changes that were incorporated. On September 2, 2014, the City Council received an informational report on the conceptual design and provided comments as well. With this agreement amendment, Verde Design will be able to complete construction documents for Estuary Park by August 2015.
Estuary Park has two distinct sections and will be developed in two phases. The four acres on the west side will be dedicated to athletic fields including one synthetic baseball diamond prioritized for special needs youth plus one lighted synthetic turf rectangular field for soccer, lacrosse, rugby, and football. This will be the City's first lighted, synthetic turf multi-use field. It will also be the first City-owned regulation-size football field. The synthetic turf baseball diamond, with a soccer field striped in the outfield, is designed to be fully ADA accessible with priority scheduling for youth and adults with mental and physical challenges. To that end, Alameda Little League has created a Challenger baseball league, which is an established national program for youth with mental and physical challenges, ages 4 - 18. The Alameda Recreation and Park Department will also partner with Special Olympics, Ala Costa Centers, and other non-profit organizations to make this field available for special needs youth and adults.
The eastern four acres is designed as a community park space with playgrounds for under 5 and 5-12 year olds, small and large group picnic areas, basketball courts, open lawn, and a dog park for small and large dogs. All of these park and recreation amenities are intended to serve the entire community, athletic field users, and the new residential housing anticipated at Alameda Landing and North Housing.
Estuary Park is being designed and planned as phased construction. The first phase will be the athletic fields. The second phase will be the community park, restrooms, and parking lot.
DISCUSSION
Several factors have made the detailed design more complex than originally anticipated. Two primary issues are the unstable bay mud and the hazardous soil conditions. While the Navy remediated and cleaned the top four feet of soil in exposed soil areas, there is remaining hazardous soils below four feet and under any hardscape such as pathways and parking lots. The planned athletic field lights require substantial concrete footings so the design team put significant effort into obtaining concise and clear soil conditions. The geotechnical engineer had to take special precautions while boring into the hazardous soil and through its work, found very unstable soils with loose fill over bay mud. Based on the geotechnical results and recommendations, the engineers now require additional time to complete their work than was in the original fee proposal. This is to design more expansive field light footings to ensure they are stable, which will provide a safer final design for the park.
Additionally, the conceptual design that was approved, had a total of 78 parking spaces (34 parking lot and 44 on-street). After subsequent community discussions, this was determined to be an insufficient number of parking spaces. There is no city, state or national parking standard for parks. However, staff and Verde Design worked to develop a parking matrix based on anticipated usage at full park build out. The total estimated parking demand is a maximum of 145 cars. This estimate is based on the most possible usage, such as having eight teams onsite for games, which is unlikely but possible with the two fields. Since Verde Design had already reached almost 50% construction documents, the agreement amendment includes an additional $8,130 to re-design the plans to include a total of 141 parking spaces, including five ADA stalls.
The original agreement with Verde Design includes a 10% retainer on the final payment until construction is complete. It also includes a clause specifying that based upon Verde Design's construction drawings, if the subsequent, lowest responsible construction bid comes in more than 10% over Verde Design's Engineer's Estimate, Verde shall work with the City to value engineer the Project and provide revised construction drawings at no cost to the City.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total funding for detailed design, in an amount not to exceed $209,445, is available in the Capital Improvement Project Budget (Estuary Park - 91311) for FY 2015 - 17. The estimated total cost to construct Estuary Park, including Phase 1 and Phase 2, is $6,200,000. A total of $2,500,000 of construction funds have been identified to date from Measure WW, grants, and private donations. The remaining construction funds are anticipated from Development Impact Fees (DIF) and grants. The ongoing park maintenance, once fully built, is anticipated to be cost recovered by field and picnic rental fees.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed project includes the rehabilitation and improvement of an existing park, the proposal is consistent with the zoning and general plan designation for the property, and the improvements will be subject to the existing design requirements of the Alameda Municipal Code ensuring compatibility with adjacent land uses. For these reasons, the proposed project will not result in any significant environmental impacts and is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15301 (existing facilities), 15302 (replacement or reconstruction), and 15303 (new construction or conversion of small structures).
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation to authorize the City Manager to execute an amendment to an agreement with Verde Design Landscape Architects to add an amount not to exceed $35,300 for a total agreement amount not to exceed $209,445 for design services for Estuary Park.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. First Amendment - Verde Design
2. Original 2014 Agreement - Verde Design