Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a First Amendment to an Agreement with Placeworks to Add the Amount of $98,129 for a Total Agreement Amount of $763,957 for the Design of the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park. (Recreation and Parks 280)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a First Amendment to an Agreement with Placeworks to Add the Amount of $98,129 for a Total Agreement Amount of $763,957 for the Design of the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park
BACKGROUND
The Jean Sweeney Open Space Park (Sweeney Park) is a 27-acre park bounded by Constitution Way, Atlantic Avenue, and Sherman Street. The site is the former Alameda Beltline Railroad property that was secured by the City at its original purchase price due the advocacy efforts of long-time resident Jean Sweeney. There are 3.45 acres of remnant parcels on the southern edge that are still owned by Union Pacific Railroad. Staff is actively working with the railroad to negotiate purchase of these parcels.
On July 15, 2015, the City Council approved the Sweeney Park Master Plan, which was designed pro bono by Kristoffer Köster of KKDesign through an extensive public input process.
On March 1, 2016, the City Council approved a contract with Placeworks Landscape Architects to provide design services for Jean Sweeney Open Space Park. Since then, staff has been working with Placeworks to develop the design, utilizing the approved Master Plan as the design framework.
On July 5, 2016, the City Council approved the design development of Sweeney Park, which included detailed design, strategies and prominent features.
DISCUSSION
During the final phase of design and resulting from a refinement of property boundaries due to negotiations with Union Pacific, which retains a small amount of remnant parcels at Sweeney Park, staff determined that it was necessary to adjust an area on the southern edge of the park near St. Charles street to ensure that it did not conflict with Union Pacific owned property. This required changes to the construction documents that were near completion and necessitated additional services and hours for design and civil engineering work.
Additionally, since the construction bids for the Cross Alameda Trail project through Sweeney Park were 40% over the engineer’s estimate, staff felt it would be a prudent use of funds to review the design again, compare the bid costs from the trail project and make changes through a value engineering process before going out to bid on the next phase of Sweeney Park (the eastern third). This effort will save a significant amount of funds for the construction; in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The project team will work together to make changes that reduce the construction budget but do not impact the integrity of the park and its use for the public.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Budget for the contract is included in the Capital Improvement Program - Recreation and Parks (Project No.91309). The project is funded with monies allocated from a grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, funds from the Developer’s Agreement with Tim Lewis Communities, Development Impact Fees, Open Space Fund and community donations. The City Council previously approved the original contract and the contract amendments as presented below:
|
Contract |
Approval Date |
Authorized Amount |
Expended to [Date] |
|
Original Contract |
03/01/2016 |
$665,828 |
$563,922 |
|
1st Amendment |
pending |
$98,129 |
$0 |
|
Total |
|
$763,957 |
$563,922 |
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed agreement implements the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park Master Plan evaluated in the Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park Master Plan in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act and approved by the City Council on July 15, 2014. The subject project will be required to implement the appropriate mitigation measures from the Mitigated Negative Declaration. No further environmental review is required.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation to authorize the City Manager to execute a first amendment to an agreement with Placeworks to add the amount of $98,129 for a total agreement amount of $763,957 for the design of the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Original Agreement
2. First Amendment