Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with Griffin Structures, Inc. in the Amount Not-to-Exceed $1,077,000, Including a 5% Contingency, for Project Management of the City Aquatic Center, Estimated to Cost $30 Million and Located on the West Side of Sweeney Park. (Recreation 10051400)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Aquatic Center (Center) will provide critical additional pool space to meet the increasing and unmet community needs for competitive and recreational aquatic programs. Construction of this facility is estimated to cost $30 million based upon a City Council approved conceptual design with a 30-meter competition pool, a recreational pool, associated building with locker rooms, office space, restrooms, and community room as well as the associated parking lot and amenities to support the Center. Public input will be solicited and options provided to City Council for a 50-meter pool and potential infrastructure improvements for remaining areas of Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.
This is a significant and complex project for the City of Alameda (City) with a design-build approach rather than the traditional design-bid-build approach. Although new for the City, the design-build process is well suited for this type of project and will provide cost and time efficiencies. Griffin Structures was selected from a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process and is uniquely qualified to manage this project with extensive aquatic center and design-build project management experience in public sector environments and a strong team of aquatics experts, Certified Construction Managers, and Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Associates.
BACKGROUND
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-20 budget, City Council authorized funding for the City Aquatic Center conceptual design. In January and February 2020, the City held community workshops on pool design options and the input was incorporated into the final conceptual design. This design was recommended by the Recreation and Parks Commission on August 13, 2020. The project was paused due to the pandemic, shifting priorities, and lack of funding sources.
On February 15, 2022, City Council heard options to fund aquatic facilities in Alameda, including the rebuild of the Emma Hood Swim Center at Alameda High School and construction of a City Aquatic Center on a City-owned site. City Council provided general direction to staff to further pursue possible funding mechanisms for both facilities.
On October 18, 2022, City Council approved the Center to be constructed on the west side of Sweeney Park. At the same meeting, the City Council also approved funding up to 50% of the Center costs, including design and construction, with the General Fund Unassigned Residual Fund Balance and funding the balance of project costs with a financing mechanism to be determined.
On February 21, 2023, City Council approved funding the Center in the amount up to $30 million with $15 million from the unassigned residual General Fund balance and financing the remainder from a Certificate of Participation. This approval included the provision that when staff returns with a final financing plan, information on the cost of funding a 50-meter pool and alternatives for funding the 50-meter pool are to be included. The financing plan and 50-meter pool costs will be described in a separate staff report at a Council meeting in September.
City staff issued an RFP on March 16, 2023 and proposals were due on April 13, 2023. Four proposals were received by Acumen Construction Management Inc., Griffin Structures, Cumming Group and Swinerton Management and Consulting.
All four firms were interviewed by Jack Dybas, Public Works Project Manager II, who manages large City park projects, Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager, Matt Nowlen, Parks Manager, and Stacy Thomas, Recreation Supervisor I (Aquatics and Sports). Griffin Structures clearly demonstrated the most relevant and significant experience for this project with proven local Bay Area municipal aquatic center experience as the project management firm for the Piedmont Aquatic Center, Mountain View Rengstorff Park Aquatic Center, and San Bruno Recreation and Aquatic Center projects.
DISCUSSION
As a major project for the City with a delivery model that is new to the City, it is critical to have an experienced project management firm as part of the City’s project team. This will bring significant added value to assist City staff with the design-build process; community engagement on design; providing in-depth knowledge on current trends and best practices for aquatic center design, construction and maintenance; addressing complex soil and rising groundwater issues; and keeping the project on schedule and in budget throughout the design and construction process. Griffin Structures is an expert in the field of municipal Aquatic Center design as well as the design-build delivery model.
Key deliverables include the following:
• Project assessment including initial investigation and identifying/confirming project objectives.
• Standardized communication protocol between relevant parties throughout all aspects of design and construction, including Document management for all project documents through a cloud-based format that is easily accessible to staff.
• Environmental and regulatory coordination for CEQA, soil management compliance, and any remediation required.
• Design-build delivery analysis and procurement which includes providing design-build delivery options to City staff, preparing the requests for solicitation and proposals.
• Manage the budget, contractor invoicing and schedule, including a master budget that will track all associated project costs on a rolling basis throughout the project so the City can make well-informed decisions as things inevitably shift. This also includes ongoing value engineering throughout design to address potential cost estimates in real time, rather than after design is completed (as happens during a traditional design-bid-build process).
• Manage the design process including the community engagement process with City staff playing a key role in facilitating meetings and conducting outreach.
• Constructability review throughout the design to address issues early in the process.
• Quality assurance during construction of the contractor’s work as well as special inspections.
• Project closeout.
At this time, the City Aquatic Center project is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 with design occurring throughout 2024 and construction in 2025-2026.
ALTERNATIVES
• Approve the agreement with Griffin Structures, Inc. in an amount not-to-exceed $1,077,000 for City Aquatic Center project management services.
• Direct staff to re-consider other project management firms that submitted proposals. None of these firms had the same level of combined aquatic center and design-build experience as Griffin Structures, Inc.
• Direct staff to not utilize a project management firm for the City Aquatic Center. While this will save costs on the front end of the project, it will have a variety of negative impacts including:
o High likelihood for significant cost over-runs and schedule delays due staff’s lack of experience in designing and constructing an aquatic center.
o Reduce staff’s ability to work on other City Council approved projects due to the significant amount of time this project will require for staff to manage all aspects.
o Likely change the project delivery model back to the traditional design-bid-build model of which staff is familiar.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The cost of the Griffin Structures, Inc. service provider agreement for City Aquatic Center Project Management services is not-to-exceed $1,077,000, including a 5% contingency in the amount of $50,000. Sufficient budget for the agreement is provided within the Capital Improvement Program FY 2023-25 Biennial Budget for the City Aquatic Center.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Approval of a project management agreement allows the City to continue exploring the feasibility for a future aquatic center project and take initial steps to set up future administration of the project. However, it does not commit the City to the construction of any particular aquatic center or any other definite course of action, and thus, this is not a “project” approval requiring further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (City of Irvine v. County of Orange (2013) 221 Cal.App.4th 846, 852, 164 Cal.Rptr.3d 586 (Musick II).
CLIMATE IMPACT
All buildings associated with the Center will meet a minimum LEED Silver certification pursuant to the City’s building ordinance. With additional funding, there are options that could be explored such as full electrification of the systems with solar or wind energy generation or raising the LEED certification to Gold or Platinum that would reduce the climate impacts of this facility.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Griffin Structures, Inc. in the amount of $1,077,000, including a 5% contingency, for project management of the City Aquatic Center, estimated to cost $30 Million and located on the west side of Sweeney Park.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Agreement