A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COMMERCE, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING THE SEPARATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC WORKS FACILITY INTO SEPARATE PROJECTS WHEREAS, the City Council approved separate purchase and sale agreements for the former Public Works headquarters, which was subsequently relocated across the street on Jillson, and the current Transportation headquarters in order to create for-sale housing opportunities in the housing overlay zone; and WHEREAS, construction of the first phase of that for-sale housing is now underway at the site that Public Works vacated and the construction of additional homes will commence at the Transportation site once that site is clear.
WHEREAS, on August 17, 2021, the City approved a professional services agreement to Stantec Architecture Inc., to provide architecture and engineering services to design a Transportation and Public Works Facility. As part of the evaluation process, Stantec, along with City staff (Team), toured existing Commerce facilities to examine and document current space deficiencies, future operational needs, and service demands. The team also toured other regional facilities to obtain feedback and “lessons learned” from previous transportation and public works projects; and WHEREAS, this thorough evaluation process set the stage for future programming dialogue around operational requirements, department culture, and adjacencies – both those indicative of combined operational use facilities in general, as well as those unique to the City of Commerce. Additionally, the study addressed land utilization, minimization of work disruptions, costs, and the delivery of services to the residents of the City of Commerce; and WHEREAS, the team worked closely to better understand the City’s current space needs and projected those needs out based on a 20-year forecast. Based on the findings, the evaluation team developed a program matrix that identified the functional spaces required, projected secured parking for City vehicles/equipment, circulation space, public parking, trash/recycling, emergency generator, onsite fueling, etc.) to determine the required space to accommodate both transportation and public works program elements; and WHEREAS, evaluation of the space needs program determined that a combined use for a transportation and public works facility would require approximately 439,743 square feet (10.10 acres) would be necessary by the end of the 20-year forecast window. The total space on the proposed Commerce Refuse Energy Authority (CREA) site is 287,576 (6.51 acres).
WHEREAS, due to the significant capacity restraints to build a joint facility on the proposed CREA site, a large portion of the project would have to be elevated and constructed on multi-story buildings. In turn, it increases the cost of the project considerably; and WHEREAS, as a result, due to the space restrictions on the proposed CREA site, combined with the project being cost-prohibitive, the evaluation team concluded it would be advisable to explore identifying a new location for the public works portion of the project.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COMMERCE DOES HEREBY RESOLVE, DECLARE AND DETERMINE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The City Council of the City of Commerce hereby finds and declares that the foregoing recitals are true and correct, and incorporates them herein as findings and as a substantive part of this Resolution.
Section 2. Authorize City staff to separate the Transportation and Public Works Facility into separate projects and explore other locations to house Public Works.
Section 3. This Resolution shall take full force and effect immediately upon adoption by the City Council.
PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPTED this 25th day of January 2022. ________________________
Leonard Mendoza, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Lena Shumway, City Clerk