Agenda Item No. 10
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council DATE: January 8, 2024 FROM: Matthew Bronson City Manager
PREPARED BY: Erin Wiggin, CIP Manager
SUBJECT: West Grand Avenue Streetscape Project (CIP 2287) Update
RECOMMENDATION
Receive information on the West Grand Avenue Streetscape Project (Project) (CIP 2287), confirm the allocation of additional City funds, and provide direction to staff to readvertise the Project.
BACKGROUND
The City has placed significant emphasis on improving the West Grand Avenue corridor as part of the “Economic Development and Community Promotion” Major City Goal and West Grand Avenue Master Plan. Previous enhancements to West Grand Avenue included work from Highway 1 west to the beachfront area, 2nd to 4th Street and 8th to 11th Street. This project is on Grand Ave. from 4th-8th Street (Attachment 1).
On June 27, 2022, the Council awarded a design contract to BKF Engineers to develop the project design and bid documents for this project. In August 2022, the City was awarded a $1.5 million Community Betterments Grant from the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) in recognition of the development opportunities related to this project, particularly with housing. The grant funding was later increased to $1.8 million. This grant helped provide funding for the project and allowed for expanding the scope to include the design and construction of storm drains on this section of West Grand Avenue. The project scope includes the following items:
• Pedestrian improvements such as curb ramps, bulb-outs, pedestrian beacons and sidewalk improvements at select locations
• Class 2 bike lanes including green lanes at intersections • Decorative concrete at crosswalks
• Drought-tolerant landscaped center medians and street trees • Pedestrian level streetlights
• Pavement rehabilitation
• Storm drain installation
The streetscape project is intended to create a sense of place and an enticement for residents to live, shop and stay within their community along with also attracting visitors to the City. West Grand Avenue is also an emerging hub for new multi-family housing and commercial development in Grover Beach and the streetscape improvements will support these developments. As an example, there are mixed-use housing developments at 402 West Grand Avenue and 401 West Grand Avenue that include nearly 100 new housing units and groundlevel retail space. Construction has started at 402 West Grand Avenue while 401 West Grand Staff Report: West Grand Avenue Streetscape (CIP 2287) Page 2 January 8, 2024
Avenue was recently submitted as a development application.
Staff solicited bids for the project on August 17, 2023. Bids were due on September 28, 2023.
The City received one bid from Papich Construction for $5,938,675 million (including bid additives). When budgeting for a construction contingency of 20% and consulting construction management services, the total project cost was nearly $7.6 million, compared to the $4.2 million budgeted for the project. This left a $3.4 million funding gap for the project.
Staff performed a bid evaluation and met with contractors and design professionals to better understand the reasoning for the increased costs of construction. The cost of labor, materials, and trucking have greatly increased in the last twelve to twenty-four months which has impacted prices across the construction industry. Staff reached out to other agencies with recent bid openings and confirmed these increases are industry-wide and do not show signs of reversing but rather plateauing. Another factor is that contractors on the central coast were overstretched due to storm clean-up work from the winter of 2023. Staff recommended reopening the project for bidding, aiming to secure multiple bids and based on this information, the Council approved rejecting the bid at the October 10, 2023 City Council meeting.
Staff has performed a thorough design review to consider potential l scope reductions, however given the high-profile nature of this of this project and the need for all these improvements in the Project, none of these scope reductions seemed appropriate. It would have been challenging to delay one or more of the scope items due to various reasons, such as logistical constraints, interdependencies among the different components, and the complexity of the project. As part of this design review, staff are now recommending constructing lithocrete surfaces at the enhanced crosswalks, and to include the intersection at Grand Avenue and N. 8th Street given the proximity to City Hall. This will carry the streetscape and crosswalk look from 2nd-4th street through 8th Street.
Staff has worked diligently to bridge the funding gap. One of these initiatives included making an appeal to SLOCOG for additional funding. At their December 4th meeting, SLOCOG confirmed their intent to award an additional $1.6M in funding for the project. They plan to award this at their meeting on January 10th. Staff also identified a balance of $1,860,000 of Local Transportation Funds (LTF) and is recommending allocating these funds to this project. These additional funds will fully fund this project if the next round of bids come in at or below the previous bids. If the Council approves the use of the LTF funds to this Project and authorizes the call for bids, staff will bid the project with the plan to start construction in April. Refer to the tables below for the funding sources for the construction costs of the project.
Funding for Construction
Funding Source Amount
General Fund (FY22 & 23) $1,906,261
Gas Tax $100,000
LTF - Current Allocation $100,000
SB1 Fund $299,000
REAP Grant - Current Allocation
Community Betterment $1,800,000
CURRENT TOTAL FUNDING $4,205,261
Staff Report: West Grand Avenue Streetscape (CIP 2287) Page 3 January 8, 2024
Additional Funding
Additional REAP Community Betterment $1,600,000
Additional LTF (City) $1,800,000
PROJECTED FUNDING $3,400,000
FISCAL IMPACT
Based on the only bid the City received for the project, there is a funding gap of approximately $3.4 million. Staff has learned that SLOCOG plans to contribute an additional $1.6M to the project, and staff is recommending allocating $1,800,000 LTF funds to this project to close the funding gap.
ALTERNATIVES
The Council has the following alternatives to consider:
1. Receive information on the West Grand Avenue Streetscape Project (CIP 2287), confirm the allocation of additional City funds, and provide direction to staff to readvertise the project; or
2. Provide staff with alternative direction
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
The agenda was posted in accordance with the Brown Act.
Attachments
1. West Grand Streetscape Project (4th to 8th Street) Overall Site Plan. �
£
!
�
� �
9g_
��
ii !�
��
l·r I Q!.:l �
� l.:1,;CJ
------ ----------
·� � _j--
-
-I!_· "it_
-<$S-MIG>' I
jJ- �
� D
YE EE D YE
a 8
�
�
GAANDAVE
fE_ :£
.J
W� I r.;;] � � � ,,_,� -- 1':l,j_ ... --1.r.'
'� jJEE] -....
OVERALL SITE PLAN - 4TH STREET TO 8TH STREET
SCALE: NTS
-£ \
:l:A�X
iii
. 8 t;
L-- � l...:...!L.J
•
� • 8 I ..:... I YE
NOIE ID CONIBACTQB·
Attachment 1
-.-. --
0-..[RALL SITE PLAN IS FOR REFERENCE ONLY ANO SHALL
NOT BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION RELATED WORK Of THE
STREET REHABILITATION AND REPAIR PROJECT CIP 2287
FOR REFERENCE ONLY
City of Grover Beach
---1arr--•-
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PLANS � GRAND A\'ENUE STREETSCAPC PRO..ECT 4TH STREET TO 9TH STREET
OVERALL SfTE PLAN
-_,, ..
D\11: 01/09/24 � ...
-3 Of 41