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Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 6.E
Meeting Date: February 23, 2022
From: John Corella, Director of Engineering/Public Works Title: Authorization of Task Order for Interwest Consulting Group in the amount of $68,425 and issue the Advanced Engineering Fee for SCE to begin the design of the East Palm Canyon Master Underground Plan (MUP) for CIP #C08874
City Council
RECOMMENDATION:
Authorize the Southern California Edison (SCE) Preliminary Design and Engineering Advanced Fee in the amount of $4,200 for the East Palm Canyon Master Underground Plan (MUP) Project; and, authorize Task Order to Interwest Consulting Group not to exceed $68,425 for the survey and design services for the MUP and roadway widening design; and, authorize the Director of Engineering/Public Works to initiate the SCE Preliminary Design and execute Task Order 01 to Interwest, respectively.
BACKGROUND:
Along East Palm Canyon Drive (EPC) between the Palm Springs/Cathedral City border and west of Elks Drive there are currently seven (7) Southern California Edison (SCE) electrical power poles on the south side of EPC within the City’s right-of-way. These power poles are the only remaining poles on the south side of EPC within the City limits.
Noting the above, the Planning Department has received a formal development submittal for a gas station and commercial store (gas station) located to the south of EPC and Cree Road on the former “Dancing Greek” restaurant site. The developer had approached the City preliminarily with their development proposal in 2020. In these preliminary meetings, it was identified that at least two (2) of these power poles fronting the site would need to be relocated with the widening of the EPC frontage to comply with the City’s General Plan requirements.
Subsequent to these discussions with the developer, City Engineering Staff made a MUP presentation to City Council in January 2021. The MUP, under Municipal Code 8.30.060, provides for fees to be collected to further develop the City’s underground efforts. With this project being a high priority, the City Council concurred on making a significant contribution along with the developer contributing their portion of relocation costs to the undergrounding effort.
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In addition, Staff cited the benefits of undergrounding these lines along EPC will avail this section of EPC to be widened from Canyon Plaza to the western City limits.
Currently, when entering Cathedral City from the west, commuters currently find that immediately after the eastern entrance of the Glory to God Ministries property the roadway decreases in width, the dimension of the roadway changes from 44 ft wide to 32 ft (street center line to curb), which can disturb the flow of traffic. Staff proposes the southside of the street be widened to 47 ft with the addition of a sidewalk. The widening will accommodate eastbound traffic and wider bicycle lane widths, safe pedestrian movement, improve the current line of site deficiencies that exist on this curve into the City, accommodate a potential traffic signal proposed at EPC and Cree Road by the aforementioned developer and improve the overall area aesthetics.
DISCUSSION:
To accomplish both the undergrounding of the seven power poles lines along this portion of EPC and the widening of EPC from Canyon Plaza Drive to the western City limits, two separate projects will need to be completed concurrently. First, the MUP funded undergrounding of the power pole lines will need to be initiated with SCE, which is considered a Rule 20 Project funded by the City; and second, an EPC widening project will need to be initiated and funded by the City as a new street project.
To begin the design street widening and undergrounding of power poles the following tasks must be completed:
SCE Advanced Engineering Fee
SCE requires an advanced design and engineering fee to start the design for the undergrounding of the seven power poles and determine the final costs SCE will incur.
The advanced fee for the preliminary design is $4,200. Once the design is complete, SCE will provide an invoice for the City to pay. This invoice will be the only invoice the City would receive from SCE to complete their portion of the work which will pay for the final complete SCE engineering, funds for the removal of SCE’s conflicting infrastructure and funds to pull the new conductors. The advanced engineering fee will go towards this final invoice. If the City choses not to proceed with the Project, the City will forfeit the Advance Engineering Fee.
Please note: SCE does not install the civil infrastructure for the project, nor work with the under-burden utilities, e.g., Spectrum, Verizon, etc. on relocations and undergrounding. All these preceding items will be separately contracted for and coordinated with the respective utilities at the City’s cost.
As a basis for overall cost of the undergrounding Project, SCE has loosely estimated a cost of approximately $750,000, which does not include the roadway widening.
Staff is recommending the Advance Engineering Fee be paid to SCE to get the Project started.
Survey
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In addition to the advanced engineering design and fee, SCE will need the project limits surveyed to provide the necessary base sheets for the placement of the underground power lines on EPC. SCE confided it will be more efficient, expedient and less expensive for the City to hire its own engineering and surveying services to perform this task. SCE included specific elements needed in the base sheets and City staff requested quotes from Fomotor Engineering, the City’s On-Call Survey and Interwest the City’s On – Call Design Professional Services. The following quotes where returned:
•Fomotor Engineering – $ 13,820.00
•Interwest Consulting Group – $11,000.00*
*Interwest provided the lowest responsible quote.
To initiate the Project, Staff is recommending Interwest Consulting Group provide the survey and base sheets for the Project.
Street Widening Design
Further internal evaluation determined that if base sheets were to be secured from our on- call engineering and/or surveying firms for SCE, the City should take the next full step and design the overall south EPC street widening where the seven power poles are to be removed. This will allow for the respective vault placements and other above ground power access points to be located at their final roadway and/or right of way locations in accordance with the ultimate street design. The street widening of the south side of EPC from Canyon Plaza Drive to the west City limits is proposed to be coupled with the originally intended MUP undergrounding Project.
To produce the base sheets for SCE and prepare the design for the EPC south side street widening, the City asked Interwest to provide a proposal for the final design of the EPC south side street widening. Interwest provided a proposal which consists of providing the survey services for the SCE required base sheets (the preliminary design) and final design or the ultimate south side of EPC street widening from west of Canyon Plaza Drive to the western City limits. In addition, Interwest will provide coordination with SCE and/or other utility companies concerning the City’s undergrounding project within the widening project limits. The following cost for the Task Order No. 01 was returned:
•Interwest Consulting Group – $57,425
Staff evaluated this cost and determined this is reasonable and in line with what the overall projected construction cost for the street widening Project will be.
For a basis on the estimated cost of a south EPC roadway widening Project in conjunction with the undergrounding Project cited above, the preliminarily estimate is $600,000.
Staff is requesting City Council authorize the SCE Preliminary Design and Engineering Advanced Fee in the amount of $4,200 for the East Palm Canyon Master Undergrounding Plan (MUP) Project; and, authorize Task Order 01 to Interwest Consulting Group in the not to exceed amount of $68,425 for the survey and design Cathedral City Page 4 of 4 Printed on 2/17/2022
services for the MUP and roadway widening design: and, authorize the Director of Engineering/Public Works to pay the Fee to SCE to initiate the Preliminary Design, and execute Task Order 01 to Interwest, respectively.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The MUP (Fund 232) currently has $2,000,000 in available funding and the following items are expenses:
•The $4,200 SCE Preliminary Design and Engineering Advance Fee; and, •The $11,000 cost to Interwest for the surveying required to produce the base sheets for SCE.
The General Fund Engineering Professional and Technical Services account, 100-156- 8601, for FY 2021-22 has available funding for the $57,425 portion for Interwest to complete the south side of EPC street widening design work.
Upon completion, Staff will return to City Council for the future funding requirements related to the undergrounding Project and the south EPC roadway widening Project.
ATTACHMENTS:
EPC at west City Limits
SCE Advanced Engineering Fee
Interwest Task Order 01 - E Palm Canyon Drive Widening