DATE: May 19, 2026
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Award a Contract to Fehr & Peers in a Not-To-Exceed Amount of $610,880 for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan, Project No. 05359
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council adopts a resolution (Attachment II) authorizing the City Manager to award a contract to Fehr & Peers for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan in an amount not-to-exceed $610,880.
SUMMARY
The City was awarded $611,000 grant funding from the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) Sustainable Transportation Planning (STP) Fiscal Year 2025 - 2026 Grant program to develop the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan , which includes assessment of the existing streetlight conditions and recommendations of the illumination levels for various development areas with the focus on pedestrian and bicycle corridors. The Request for Proposal (RFP) was released on February 23, 2026, to procure a consultant to help develop the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan. A total of three proposals were submitted from Arup, Kimley-Horn, and Fehr & Peers. Staff scored Fehr & Peers’ proposal as the highest out of the three proposals and recommends adopting a resolution to award a contract to Fehr & Peers for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan in amount not-to-exceed $610,880.
FISCAL IMPACT
This agenda item will not impact the City’s General Fund. The total project cost for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan is $691,000, including $611,000 grant funding from the Caltrans STP Grant program and $80,000 local cash match from Fund 212 – Measure BB (Local Transportation) and Fund 215- Measure B (Local Transportation) detailed in the table on the following page.
Fund
215 $63,900
212 $16,100
Total Matching Portion $80,000
The total project cost of $691,000 would be sufficient to fund Fehr & Peers in amount not - to-exceed $610,880 and the City staff with the remaining budget of $80,120.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan is to strategically prevent nighttime collisions and accommodate safe travels for all road users in dark conditions. The Plan will include assessment of the existing lighting conditions, recommendations of minimum illumination levels in various development areas with a focus on high pedestrian and bicycle corridors, and establishment of maintenance programs, processes for handling new street light requests, and short- and long-term capital improvement alternatives.
Poor lighting conditions and a lack of streetlights have been identified as travel safety concerns at nighttime in the City. Based on the City’s Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) (2023), 58% of the fatal and severe injury crashes reported between 2017 and 2023 occurred at nighttime. Further, based on the collision data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Record System, 58% of pedestrian -involved and 54% of bicycle -involved fatal or severe injury collisions occurred in dark conditions with or without streetlig hts, underscoring the need for enhanced lighting systems.
The Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan is a necessary tool to evaluate and improve the existing citywide lighting system and prevent collisions to help achieve the City’s Vision Zero goal by 2050. The LRSP recommended adding intersection lighting, which is a proven countermeasure with a crash reduction factor of 40% based on Caltrans’ Local Road Safety Manual; the lighting at intersections and on its approaches is expected to improve nighttime safety by making drivers aware of the surroundings, enhancing dri vers’ available sight distances, and increasing the visibility of non -motorists. The Federal Highway Safety Administration also indicates that adequate lighting at or above minimum acceptable standards can reduce nighttime injury pedestrian crashes at inte rsections by 42% and nighttime injury crashes on rural and urban highways by 28%.
The development of the Plan is funded by the Caltrans STP grant program, which was created to support the Caltrans mission to provide a safe and reliable transportation network that serves all people and respects the environment. The grant application was first submitted on January 18th, 2024, for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 with the project title as “Streetlight Master Plan,” but the application was not selected for that fiscal year. The grant application was later updated based on Caltrans feedback and resubmitted on January 22 nd, 2025, for the Fiscal Year 2025 -26, with the project title as “Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan.” The grant application included $611,000 in grant request and $80,000 in a local cash match. On July 1st, 2025, Caltrans notified the City that the grant application was selected for grant funding.
DISCUSSION
The RFP was released on February 23, 2026, and closed on April 2, 2026, to procure a consultant to assist develop the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan. The proposals were received from three firms: Arup, Kimley-Horn, and Fehr & Peers. The staff evaluation team reviewed and scored the proposals on criteria such as project management & team leads, project understanding & approach, work plan & fee, qualification of firm/team. The proposal from Fehr & Peers scored the highest followed by Arup as the second highest. The table below provides the average score for each of the firms.
Firm Average Score
Fehr & Peers 88.00
Arup 84.00
Kimley-Horn 75.67
The staff evaluation team scored Fehr & Peers as the highest as they demonstrated their experience in similar citywide streetlight master plans, team members with expertise in lighting, creative public engagement strategies such as paid community-based organizations to increase public participation , and a partnership with Evari, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consultant that has experience and expertise in streetlight data collection and analysis using GIS application. Therefore, staff recommends that Fehr & Peers be awarded as the consultant for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan.
The execution of this contract will allow the City to proceed with the development of the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan with an anticipated completion date of December 2027.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan will provide a roadmap for implementing future improved streetlight system which will accommodate safer travels , reduce crime, and increase access to key destinations in dark conditions. Increased nighttime activities would support commercial and retail developments in the City.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority of Enhance Community Safety, Champion Climate Resilience & Environmental Justice , and Invest in Infrastructure . This item is not specifically related to a project identified in the Strategic Roadmap. Staff is bringing forward this new item to develop a plan to enhance the City’s streetlight system to support Strategic Priorities by increasing safety, reducing emissions, and improving the streetlight infrastructure.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
The Plan will include recommendations of energy-efficient streetlights to help achieve the City’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 55 percent below 200 5 baseline emissions level by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045. Additionally, enhanced streetlights could encourage and incentivize walking and biking for residents after hours , further reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time.
PUBLIC CONTACT
The Plan will include outreach and engagement with the general public, diverse community groups, community-based organizations, as well as the development of the Technical Advisory Committee to collect any feedback and concerns regarding the City’s streetlight system. All necessary stakeholders and affected neighborhoods, agencies, community-based organizations, and businesses will have opportunities for input, and be done in a way that is equitable.
NEXT STEPS
If Council approves this request, the City Manager will execute a professional service s agreement with Fehr & Peers in a not-to-exceed amount of $610,880 for the Nighttime Safety Enhancement Plan, Project No. 05359.
Prepared by: Jade Kim, Assistant Transportation Engineer Marissa Matta, Management Analyst II
Byron Tang, Principal Transportation Engineer
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
_____________________________
Jennifer Ott, City Manager