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April 23, 2024
Agreement: Award Progressive Design-Build Agreement with Erickson Hall Construction Company, Amend the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Capital Improvement Program Budget, Establish a New CIP Project and Appropriate Funds
Report Number: 23-0260
Location: La Media Rd. and Santa Luna St.
Department: City Manager
G.C. § 84308: Yes
Environmental Notice: The Project was adequately covered in a previously-certified Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR 10-03; SCH No. 2010062093) for Otay Ranch Village 8 West Sectional Planning Area (SPA) and Tentative Map.
Recommended Action
Adopt a resolution A) Awarding a Progressive Design-Build Construction Agreement between the City and Erickson-Hall Construction Company for design and construction of Temporary Fire Station 11; B) Amending the Fiscal Year 2023 -24 C apital Improvement Program (CIP) budget by establishing a new CIP Project, GGV0273 “Temporary Fire Station 11”; and C) appropriating funds for that purpose (4/5 Vote Required).
SUMMARY
The current Fire Facility, Maintenance, and Equipment Master Plan (FFMP) establishes the need for an additional fire station, Fire Station 11, at La Media Road south of Main Street in Otay Ranch Village 8 West.
The September 2020 Village 8 West Fire, Rescue, and EMS Needs Analysis (Attachment 1) further determined Fire Station 11 should be located at or near La Media Road and East Main Street, and should accommodate an engine and ambulance to serve Village 8 West, additional planned development, and the existing City; and that Fire Station 11 would need to be in service within 2 years of issuance of the 600th single family or multi- family building permit in Village 8 West. The 600 th single- or multi-family building permit in Village 8 West was issued in August 2021. To immediately address existing response time deficiencies, staff recommends that the Council approve fast-track construction of a temporary fire station, Temporary Fire Station 11, at the northwest corner of La Media Road and Santa Luna Street. The construction of a temporary fire station will improve response times in the southeasterly portion of the city; and will increase the longevity of Fire Stations 7 and 10 through decreasing “wear and tear” on those stations. Staff further recommends the P a g e | 2
Temporary Fire Station 11 project be fast -tracked utilizing progressive design-build delivery and awarded as sole-source contract to Erickson-Hall Construction Company.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The Director of Development Services has reviewed the proposed project for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that the Project was adequatel y covered in a previously-certified Environmental Impact Report (FEIR 10 -03; SCH No. 2010062093 ) for Otay Ranch Village 8 West Sectional Planning Area and Tentative Map. Thus, no further environmental review is necessary.
BOARD/COMMISSION/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
Not applicable.
DISCUSSION
The current FFMP establishes the need for an additional fire station, Fire Station 11, at La Media Road south of Main Street in Otay Ranch Village 8 West. The September 2020 Village 8 West Fire, Rescue, and EMS Needs Analysis (Attachment 1) further determined Fire Station 11 should be located at or near La Media Road and East Main Street and should accommodate an engine and ambulance (4 firefighters, 2 ambulance transport employees) to serve Village 8 West, additional planned development, and the existing City. Fire Station 11 is necessary to provide fire, rescue, and emergency medical services because existing fire stations and response companies were not intended to provide service to this area and do not have response capacity for this new population growth.
Village 8 West is adjacent to several existing and occupied neighborhood developments. Without the increase to fire service capability, additional calls for service, or “C FS,” caused by population growth will hav e an impact on Fire Department response threshold standards. The performance of existing fire stations and response companies currently does not have additional service capacity. The effects will progressively worsen as development approaches build out, an d normal service demand continues to increase. As the existing fire station network is currently not capable of meeting its City Council established response time thresholds, an additional Fire Station – Fire Station 11 – is needed to serve Village 8 West.
Overview
The Chula Vista Fire Department (CVFD, or the “Department”) provides fire, rescue, and emergency medical services to the City of Chula Vista. The Department’s jurisdiction encompasses the entire municipal limits of the City.
The 2020 Village 8 W est Fire, Rescue, and EMS Needs Analysis established that the Chula Vista Fire Department’s ten stations respond ed to nearly 24,000 CFS, while serving a population of 272,000 and covering an area of over 52 square miles. Stations are staffed 7 days a week, 24 hours per day with a total daily staffing of 49 emergency response personnel including two battalion chiefs. From 2015-2020, CFS rose an average 6% annually.
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Fire Station Network
A fire station network is built based on distribution and concentration of resources. Distribution is spreading fire stations with the appropriate equipment and staffing throughout the service area to minimize travel times to CFS regardless of the volume. Concentration is adjusting the spread of fire stations with the appropriate equipment and staffing throughout the service area based on call volume and/or high -risk potential incidents requiring additional equipment and staffing to safely mitigate the incident.
Reliability, availability, and operational efficiency are the outcomes of distribution and concentration of fire stations, equipment, and staffing demonstrated in the form of performance metrics. These performance metrics are outcome based, meaning they have a direct correlation to the amount of fire spread and/or loss, and the severity of irreversible damage to people suffering from a medical emergency.
Today, services are provided via ten fire stations located within the City. The Department staffs a fleet of fire apparatus which includes nine fire engines, two aerial trucks, one Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) company, two SQUAD response units, and two battalion command vehicles. The Department operates with engine companies in nine of the ten fire s tation locations and a standalone US&R at Fire Station 3. Two stations (Fire Stations 1 and 7) house truck companies alongside the engine companies. Fire Station 7 is the hub for two squad units, which operate seven days/week from 07 :30-17:30 hours to supp ort peak call volume at the eastern portions of the city. Operational Battalion Chiefs also respond out of these two fire stations.
Performance Metrics
While Department performance metrics are formulated on a Citywide basis, a closer look at individual response areas in the eastern portion of the City reveals inconsistencies with service levels as compared to the west. The Department is implementing measures to improve performance in the east with the goal of matching performance in the west. The opening of Fire Station 10 , implementation of SQUADs, and implementation of 4.0 staffing are some examples. The fire station network in the region of Village 8 West shows an average compliance well below all three performance metrics identified above. These gaps are demonstrated in the performance of Fire Stations 4, 6, 7, and Fire Station 8 in the table below (Table 1):
Table 1: Fire Station Performance Near Village 8 West (Village 8 West Fire Rescue & EMS Needs Analysis, 2020) Station 4 Station 6 Station 7 Station 8
2019
Response
Time at 90%
Compliance
%
Response
Time at 90%
Compliance
%
Response
Time at 90%
Compliance
%
Response
Time at 90%
Compliance
%
Standard
Avg
Compliance
ALS*
1st Unit 0:07:26 86% 0:07:39 83% 0:08:13 77% 0:07:56 78% 7 min at 90% 81%
IAF** 0:08:30 56% 0:09:05 50% 0:10:00 62% 0:10:40 73% 7 min at 90% 60%
ERF*** 0:10:49 80% 0:21:51 0% 0:13:24 83% 0:13:34 33% 10 min at 90% 49%
Notes:
*Advanced Life Support
** Initial Attack Force
***Effective Response Force
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Fire Station 10 located in Millenia is not part of this analysis since it was placed into service in May 2020 and limited data is available to analyze. At the time the 2020 analysis was completed, Fire Station 10 had only been in service for two months. At that time, Fire Station 10 averaged 2 CFS per day which did have a positive impact on Fire Station 7 and Fire Station 8 performance metrics; however, not enough to bring metrics into compliance. Using this as an indication, the impact of Fire Station 10 is not enough to compensate for the additional service demand forecasted from Village 8 West.
In addition to Fire Station 10 improving Fire Stations’ 7 and 8 performance gaps, Fire Station 10 is geographically not the primary Fire Station to support CFS in Village 8 West. Using the intersection of La Media and Santa Luna as the gateway to Village 8 West from existing fire stations and response companies, Figures 1, 2, and 3 below show travel distances from Fire Stations 7 and 10 to this intersection.
Based on figures 1, 2, and 3 below, Fire Station 7 provides the nearest response companies at 1.01 miles. Fire Station 10 is the second closest at 1.98 miles ; or 1.44 miles via Bob Pletcher Way. It should be noted that routing from Fire Station 10 to Village 8 West via Bob Pletcher Way utilizes residential streets, requires three additional turns, and includes more controlled/uncontrolled intersections when compared to routing in Figure 2. Even though Figure 3 is the shortest travel distance, Figure 2 may prove to be the quickest route.
Figures 1, 2, and 3: Fire Stations 7 and 10 Distances to Village 8 West Gateway (Village 8 West Fire Rescue & EMS Needs Analysis, 2020)
Village 8 West Service Demand
Village 8 West is located at the southerly edge of the Otay Valley Parcel of Otay Ranch. The town center of Village 8 West is located at the intersection of Main Street (formerly Rock Mountain Road) and La Media Road. Village 8 West is surrounded by Village 4 to the west, Village 2 and 7 to the north, Village 8 East to the east, and Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) open space to the south.
According to the Sectional Planning Area (SPA) Plan for Otay Ranch Village 8 West, 2,334 residential units are anticipated . The 2019 Residential Growth Forecast shows the City of Chula Vista has a persons per residential unit factor of 3.30. This factor multiplied by the number of residential units indicates population Figure 1:
Fire Station 7 Response
Via La Media Rd
Figure 2:
Fire Station 10 Response
Via La Media Rd
Figure 3:
Fire Station 10 Response
Via Bob Pletcher Way
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growth of 7,702 at build out of this village (no adjustments were made to the persons per unit factor, as Chula Vista has only seen a 0.123 increase in this factor from 2010-2020).
Fire service demand can be influenced by high-risk occupancies or known hazards in an area, (e.g., wildland urban interface), and popul ation. For this analysis, population will be the sole factor in determining the anticipated CFS and therefore impacting the Department’s ability to respond within prescribed performance metrics.
In order to determine service demand, the City’s population g rowth, the Department’s CFS growth, and Department calls per capita trends need to be analyzed. Once this is done, per capita trends can then be multiplied against the anticipated population of Village 8 West, which will translate to service demand. This service demand is then compared against the performance of the existing fire station network to demonstrate the impacts of adding population and therefore, CFS.
Based on the planned 2,334 dwelling units in Village 8 West multiplied by Chula Vista’s occupanc y factor of
3.3 persons per dwelling unit, a population growth of 7,702 residents can be anticipated at buildout. When multiplied by the number of calls per capita, this development is expected to produce 618 CFS annually.
Without an additional fire statio n and response unit(s) located in this area, the corresponding increased service demand would be distributed directly to Fire Station 7 located at 1640 Santa Venetia, just north of the Village 8 West development.
Surrounding Area Fire Station Capacity
In 2019, Fire Station 7 responded to 2,614 CFS with two response units, Engine 57 and Truck 57. Historical Fire Station 7 call volume from 2015 through 2019 indicates an increase of over 700 CFS with an average increase of 8% per year. Just over half of this i ncrease is attributed to the addition of new dwelling units in Otay Ranch Village 2.
The Chula Vista Development Services Department reports that 1,664 dwelling units were permitted in Otay Ranch Village 2 between 2015 and 2019. Multiplied by Chula Vista’s occupancy factor of 3.3 persons per dwelling unit, this results in an estimated population growth of 5,491 residents. When multiplied by the number of calls per capita, this development produced an estimated 434 additional CFS. These additional CFS make up 3.9% of the annual increases from 2015 to 2019.
The remaining 4.1% increase in CFS growth can be attributed to rising community service demand. Based on this information, the Fire Station 7 CFS will reach 3,196 CFS by 2024, adding approximately 582 CFS each year. In addition to the normal increase in CFS, by 2024, Village 2 will grow by an additional 2,871 dwelling units. Using the same methodology from above, the new Village 2 dwelling units are expected to add 9,474 residents to the population. This add ed population is expected to generate an additional 961 CFS annually.
When added to the forecasted CFS in 2024, Fire Station 7’s annual CFS volume is expected to increase to 4,157.
In analyzing the current capacity of Fire Station 7, performance of Engine 57 and Truck 57 are below standard compliance for all three performance metrics (Table 8). Adding additional service demand to Fire Station 7 will result in diminishing performance and negatively impact public safety to existing and future residents.
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Findings
Village 8 West is the next major development in the City; the development is outside of the current sphere of coverage of the Department. Current Department metrics are below standard compliance indicating a lack of service capacity to absorb impacts o f this development. Village 8 West would increase service area, population, and CFS demands, and negatively impact current Department compliance.
As described above, Fire Station 7 does not have the capacity to serve Village 8 West. In the map below (Figure 4), a circle is shown which indicates a 6,500-foot radius buffer. Using historical travel data previously mentioned in this analysis, the circumference indicates the maximum travel distance a response unit can travel within five minutes. This captures th e northern 20% of the Village 8 West development, which is shown in purple. Based on this, the Department can support limited development and population growth of up to 600 dwelling units in Village 8 West. At 600 dwelling units , the population growth is e stimated to be 1,980, which will generate approximately one CFS per day.
Figure 4: Fire Station 7 5-Minute Response Radius (Village 8 West Fire Rescue & EMS Needs Analysis, 2020 )
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Program For Temporary Fire Station 11
To meet timing and budget objectives, a temporary Fire Station is proposed. A temporary station comprised of factory-built modular buildings assembled on site is projected to be operation -ready within 7 months of project start. The program for Temporary Fire Station 11 will include a modular station building with living quarters and offices for engine and EMT crews; a modular building with gym, laundry, and turnout gear storage; a sprung apparatus building with three rollup bays ; and all sitework, utilities, access roads , and traffic signals. The temporary facility will be sited to mitigate any impacts to future permanent fire station construction.
Table 2: Costs for Design and Construction of Temp Fire Station 11 Not-to-exceed design and construction costs $6,276,276.00 Modular Station Buildings (Pacific Mobile Structures, Inc.) (Attachment 4) $944,359.00 City Soft Costs and Contingency $536,284.00
Total Estimated Project Cost: $7,756,919.00
Sole-Source Design Build Delivery
Progressive Design-Build delivery will best meet the fast -track needs for the Temporary Fire Station 11 project. Chula Vista Municipal Code Section 2.57.030(E) permits sole source design -build contracts where certain market conditions exist and the proposed design-builder possesses unique performance capabilities.
A sole-source award will save months of staff time required to solicit proposals and sel ect a design -build team. A “progressive” design-build contract is a delivery method where the initial contract does not contain a construction price, and the design-build team works collaboratively with the City to develop a final design and scope within t he City’s desired budget parameters. With this particular contract, Erickson -Hall will propose a guaranteed maximum construction price following development of the design, and the price will be within the City Council’s estimated cost in Table 2 above.
To objectively validate the project budget, the City has obtained an independent third -party conceptual estimate (Attachment 2) from O’Connor Management, Inc. (“OCMI”), a reputable construction management services firm; the sole-source contract award is based on this budget. The guaranteed price of the design and construction may ultimately be below the not -to-exceed amount, if the design -builder is able to value engineer or achieve other efficiencies. In the event there are unforeseen additional costs or ch ange orders, the City Council’s action includes approval of an additional $536,284.00 for soft costs and contingency. Costs beyond this amount are not anticipated and would have to be approved by the City Council.
Erickson-Hall Construction Company is an employee-owned design -builder uniquely able to deliver a Temporary Fire Station 11 that will meet Fire Department requirements and City development objectives.
Erickson-Hall and its design partners have worked together to successfully complete 45 California Essential Service Facilities to date, eight of which were delivered via the design-build delivery process (Attachment 3- Statement of Qualifications) . City staff has provided Erickson -Hall with an initial draft contract, which the parties are continuing to finalize language. The final contract will be in a form approved by the City Attorney.
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DECISION-MAKER CONFLICT
Staff has reviewed the property holdings of the City Council members and has found no property holdings within 1,000 feet of the boundaries of the property which is the subject of this action. Consequently, this item does not present a disqualifying real property -related financial conflict of interest under California Code of Regulations Title 2, section 18702.2(a)(7) or (8), for purposes of the Political Reform Act (Cal. Gov’t Code §87100, et seq.).
CURRENT-YEAR FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of the resolution amends the fiscal year 2023-24 Capital Improvement Projects Program budget by appropriating $6,138,474 from the available fund balance of the Fire Suppression Component of the Public Facilities Development Impact Fees (PFDIF) Fund and $ 1,618,445 from the available fund balance of the Parkland Acquisition and Development (PAD) Fund for total project costs for Project GGV0273 (Temporary Fire Station 11) of $7,756,919.
Fire Station 11 (both the temporary and permanent station) is being sited within the planned Otay Ranch Community Park North. The design of the park requires the construction of an access road , which can also serve Fire Station 11. While this road is being constructed now, in advance of the park, it will ultimately be the primary means of vehicular access to the park and is therefore being funded using PAD Fees. Traffic Signal improvements required to service Fire Station 11 are being funded from the Fire Suppression Component of the PFDIF.
ONGOING FISCAL IMPACT
The operations and maintenance of Fire Station 11 are reflected in the City’s Long-Term Financial Plan and will be included in the annual budget development process. The current estimated operating costs for fiscal year 2024-25 total $2.2 million.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Village 8 West Fire Rescue EMS Needs Analysis (October 2020)
2. OCMI Conceptual Estimate for Temporary Fire Station 11
3. Erickson Hall Construction Company Statement of Qualifications
4. Pacific Mobile Structures, Inc. Proposal
Staff Contacts: Kara Peterson, Development Projects Manager Tiffany Allen, Assistant City Manager