Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: may 3, 2022
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: jeffREY W. collier, ACTING City Manager
PREPARED BY: meg mcwade, public works director
DAVID GRANTHAM, PRINCIPAL CIVIL ENGINEER
Nick Esposito, assistant ENGINEER
SUBJECT: juanita cooke trail improvements (bastanchury road to laguna road)
SUMMARY
Reject all construction bids due to project costs exceeding available project funding.
RECOMMENDATION
Reject all construction bids and direct staff to revise project scope.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statement:
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
The FY 2021-22 CIP Budget has insufficient funding programmed for Project 54044 Juanita Cooke Trail Improvements. The project currently has funding with $367,350 developer fees and $532,750 Park Dwelling Funds for a total project budget of $900,100. Continuing this project will require an additional $500,000 Park Dwelling and/or General Funds appropriation.
Rejecting bids and placing the project on hold will allow staff time to review Park Dwelling Funds for prioritization among Parks and Recreation projects.
DISCUSSION
As part of the Oakmont development located at the corner of Bastanchury Road and Morelia Avenue, the developer negotiated with the City to develop over an existing trail easement located within their property. This trail easement was mostly slope area and therefore unusable and unneeded by the City. As a result, City Council approved abandonment of the easement, in exchange for $367,350 to close a 20-foot trail gap on the Juanita Cooke Trail, located on the easterly side of Morelia Avenue directly across from the Oakmont project.
Staff programmed improvements to the Juanita Cooke Trail along Morelia Avenue between Bastanchury Road and Laguna Road in the FY 2020-21 CIP budget utilizing $367,350 developer fees and $532,750 Park Dwelling Funds.
Public Works – Engineering, in conjunction with Parks and Recreation, took the lead for project implementation. Due to the technical aspects of the project scope, staff engaged one of the City’s Civil Engineering Design On-Call consultants to prepare construction documents. One of the requirements stipulated that the consultant design the project within a construction cost of $750,000, including contingencies. After preliminary design, the consultant expressed confidence that the City could construct the project within budget.
On November 11, 2021, staff presented the project to the Parks and Recreation Commission to receive feedback on the direction of the design. The Commission selected an option recommended by staff that minimized potential construction costs and impacts but still provided separate sidewalk and trail improvements like the existing improvements at the Bastanchury Road intersection.
Staff received final plans and estimates from the consultant on March 17, 2022 with the project estimate still indicating the City could complete it within the project budget. The City received four construction bids on April 13, 2022 as shown in the following table:
RANK
CONTRACTOR
BID TOTAL
1 *
Horizons Construction Intl. Inc
$647,310
2 Wright Construction Engineering Corp
$1,075,630
3 MMG Engineering, Inc
$1,477,477
4 Lucas Builders, Inc
$1,590,800
* The City received a notice from Horizons Construction notifying the City of the withdrawal of their bid shortly after the April 13, 2022 bid opening.
With the proposed construction cost, combined with contingencies, City project administration, inspection and testing costs far exceeding the project budget, staff recommends rejecting all bids. Parks and Recreation has determined that the high costs to construct a relatively short segment of trail would not provide the best use of limited Park Dwelling Funds. The goal for the use of Park Dwelling is to prioritize rehabilitation of existing park infrastructure. Use of Park Dwelling Funds for this project’s current scope (a total of approximately $1 million) would result in the elimination and/or reduction in scope of other high priority projects. The trail remains an important improvement and staff plans to investigate scoping the project differently to lower project costs. This includes working with the School District to consider reducing the street width to utilize as part of the trail, minimizing the need to construct a retaining wall.
Should this approach not provide a viable solution, staff proposes to utilize the remaining developer funds for improvements as follows:
Reconstruct the existing asphalt concrete sidewalk and trail Widen the sidewalk and trail where possible (without constructing a retaining wall) Trim and maintain the existing landscape adjacent to sidewalk and trail Perform minor slope grading associated with the landscape maintenance and sidewalk and trail widening.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Project Location Map
Juanita Cooke Trail Improvements (Bastanchury Road to Laguna Road) May 3, 2022 - Page 3