ATTACHMENT A
Amendment to
Public Services Agreement
PlaceWorks, Inc.
Budget Augment Request June 23, 2025 | Page 1
June 23, 2025
Chris Heldreth
Planning Department
City of Barstow
220 E. Mountain View St., Suite A
Barstow, CA 92311
Subject: City of Barstow General Plan Update – Scope and Budget Augment Dear Mr. Heldreth,
As the City continues to process the BIG Specific Plan and integrate the environmental analysis into the General Plan Update and EIR (GPU), the ongoing coordination, reconciliation, and refinements to the project have led to a marked increase in time spent on communications, technical analysis, and revisions to ensure an outcome that is legally defensible and supported by the community.
The notable changes include the integration of a pending County project (in the Lenwood community) into the cumulative analysis and some minor adjustments by BNSF to the project figures for BIG. The pending County project was originally going to be treated primarily in a qualitative manner, but the collective decision was made to intensify the level of coordination (with the County, BNSF, and service providers) and consideration given to the potential implications for the BIG project and overall General Plan Update. The minor adjustments BNSF made to the project figures, while they are few in number and do not materially change the nature of the project, need to be reflected throughout the entire EIR in a consistent manner to ensure legal defensibility.
The primary reason for the budget augment request is the ever-growing complexity of preparing a programmatic EIR analysis for the General Plan Update and a project EIR analysis for the BIG project. In particular, a substantial amount of time has been spent and will continue to be spent coordinating with BNSF and their consultant team to understand and reconcile approaches, methodologies, thresholds, alternatives, and significance findings. There is additional time projected for coordination meetings related to annexation, prezoning, staff reports, and supporting materials for the entitlement of the BIG project.
Finally, in order to maintain schedule and progress on the Draft EIR, and after consultation with City staff, PlaceWorks billed time for work on the Draft EIR (Task 5.5) to the task associated with the Final EIR and Response to Comments (Task 5.6). Accordingly, time and budget spent in May 2025 on Task 5.6 needs to be replaced in order to have adequate time and budget to prepare the Final EIR and response to comments.
While our team endeavored to accommodate the ongoing project refinements and additional coordination and revisions within the currently approved budget, it became clear in April 2025 that additional time would be needed to complete the effort. This includes GIS, the General Plan, zoning, environmental analyses, and project coordination. Based on communications with City, PlaceWorks is submitting the following request for an augment. Fortunately, there was adequate budget remaining as currently approved to enable PlaceWorks to proceed with work to maintain progress on the BIG SP and GPU effort.
Budget Augment Request June 23, 2025 | Page 2
SCOPE OF WORK – AUGMENT REQUESTED BY TASK
Task 1.3 GIS Data and Mapping: Additional GIS data and mapping to address changes to General Plan maps based upon the draft BIG Specific Plan and revised maps to support the EIR and annexation materials.
Task 3.3 Final General Plan: Revisions to the 2048 projections approach and methodology, SB 330 compliance, land use and circulation plans, and draft policies and implementation.
Task 3.4 Fiscal Analysis: Removal of this task based upon the work prepared by other consultants under separate contract to the City. The budget for this task would be reallocated to Task 3.3 to address additional changes to the General Plan document throughout the remainder of the update process.
Task 4.2 Zoning Consistency: Additional assistance to provide further assistance to the City on changes to the Zoning Map and Zoning Code text, in support of General Plan implementation and annexation materials.
Task 5.5 Public Review Draft EIR: Revisions to multiple sections of the EIR based on refinements to the project description and input from BNSF on approaches, methodologies, thresholds, and significance findings.
Task 5.6 Final EIR and Response to Comments: Additional budget to offset charges assigned in May 2025 invoice that were associated with the Public Review Draft EIR but were authorized to be charged to Task 5.5 in order to maintain project schedule.
Task 8.1 General Project Management: Additional time to address project changes and the expanded need to coordinate between the City, PlaceWorks, BNSF (and its consultants), San Bernardino County, and LAFCO.
PROPOSED BUDGET - AUGMENT
Table 1 includes a breakdown of the currently remaining budget and requested augment for the specified tasks, including the portion we have attributed to BNSF’s BIG Specific Plan. If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Table 1. Proposed Augment Breakdown
Task Task Name Balance
on 6/1/25
Augment
Request
New
Balance
BNSF
Portion Reason for Augment
1.3 GIS Data/Mapping $16,253 $20,000 $36,253 $20,000 Additional mapping for GP, EIR, and zoning
3.3 Final General Plan $6,725 $15,000 $55,035 $15,000 Revisions/final publication (incl. 3.4 transfer)
3.4 Fiscal Analysis $33,310 Transfer $- $- Task no longer necessary; budget to 3.3
4.2 Zoning Consistency $14,272 $20,000 $34,272 $- Additional draft Zoning Code text/mapping
5.5 Pub Rev Draft EIR $89 $124,435 $124,524 $100,000 Revisions, refinements, and coordination
5.6 Final EIR and RTC $7,076 $40,000 $47,076 $40,000 Shoring up original budget
8.1 Project Mgmt $39,136 $108,000 $147,136 $108,000 Additional coord w/City, County, BNSF, LAFCO TOTAL $116,861 $327,435 $444,296 $283,000 --
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Teague Colin Drukker
Managing Principal/PIC Principal/Project Manager