Finance and Management Services
www.santa-ana.org/finance
Item # 10
City of Santa Ana
20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Staff Report
October 15, 2024
TOPIC: Prioritization of Park Projects
AGENDA TITLE
Prioritization of Park Projects
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Receive and file, or provide staff with alternate direction.
GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 APPLIES: No
DISCUSSION
Background
The City has a Parks Master Plan identifying desirable improvement projects across the City, which is on the City’s website: www.santa-ana.org/parks-master-plan. When funding sources become available, staff recommends appropriations from the City Council for projects identified or in alignment with the Parks Master Plan, and begins work on design and advertising each construction contract for bids.
For the five-year period that ended in June 2019, the California Construction Cost Index increased by 15%. For the most recent five-year period, which ended in June 2024, the index increased by 41%.
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4 With rising construction costs, recent bids for projects have exceeded engineering estimates. As a result, staff must reassess available resources to address the funding gaps for each project. Two of the latest examples follow.
Memorial Park Aquatic Center
The City’s budget for this project is $29.9 million, including $23.7 million for construction and a contingency. The lowest responsive construction bid was $26.7 million. After adding a 10% contingency of $2.7 million and decreasing the budgeted allocation for engineering costs, the City’s budget for this project is short by $4.1 million. Drivers of the high project cost include an all-electric infrastructure (added $1 million), lighting for the aquatic facility ($0.5 million), and soil liquefaction that required additional foundation work ($1.4 million). Staff will recommend using $2.8 million of the budget for splash pads, plus savings from other park projects, and other deferred maintenance allocations totaling $3.9 million, to close the funding gap. The details of the reallocations are included in the Memorial Park item on this same agenda.
Splash Pads
The City’s original budget for six splash pads was $9.1 million, to be funded by the Cannabis Public Benefit Fund. After allocating budget to other projects, including Santa Anita and Turf at the Dan Young Sports Complex projects, and spending for splash pad design, the remaining budget available for construction is $6 million. After receiving bids, the estimated project cost for the Madison Park splash pad is $3.5 million. If the City were to move forward with the Madison Park splash pad project, only $2.5 million would remain for additional splash pad construction. At this time, staff recommends placing the Madison Park splash pad project on hold, and instead using $3.2 million for a splash pad and restrooms at Portola Park due to the lack of aquatic facilities in that sector of the city. Staff would use the remaining $2.8 million splash pad budget to help close the funding gap for the Memorial Park aquatic center as noted above. Due to high construction costs, the City would deliver a splash pad at Memorial Park and one at Portola Park. Funding alternatives for future splash pads include competitive urban heat grants and future collections of developer fees for park acquisition and development.
Some budgeted park projects do not yet have City Council-awarded contracts. Funding sources are limited and construction costs are high. Therefore, staff recommends a prioritization of currently budgeted park projects that do not have awarded contracts.
Prioritization
Focusing on the budgeted projects that do not have contracts, staff assigned a recommended priority based on highest need, most requests, and an even distribution of new projects throughout the city. Staff recommends City Council review the prioritization list and provide direction to staff for any desired changes.
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4 Project Budget Priority
Angels Park Lights (bids were due October 1) $500,000 2 Centennial Park Lights (bids were due October 1) $250,000 2 Centennial Park Restrooms (bids were due October 3) $400,000 1 Delhi Park Lights (bids were due October 1) $600,000 2
Dog Park and related Improvements/Expansion at
Centennial Park (bid advertised on September 30)
$4,400,042 1
Park Sidewalk/Ramp Improvements $400,000 1
Portola Splash Pad and Restrooms (currently in design) $3,500,000 1 Zoo Educational Hub Building (in development process,
has $2 million grant)
$2,820,014 2
Zoo North Wall (advertising for bids soon) $1,200,000 2 Zoo Walkways – Phase 1 (bids were due September 30) $392,940 1 Zoo Walkways – Phase 2 (may be used to help fund
Phase 1 if bids are high)
$400,000 1
Exhibit 1 includes the detailed list of all currently budgeted park projects. The list includes funding sources and expected completion dates, which are subject to change based on available funding and reprioritization.
Budget
The FY 2024-25 budget includes $6.7 million for park projects, and staff estimates up to $73.3 million of unspent FY 2023-24 budget is available for carryover to FY 2024-25 for a total potential budget of $80 million. The following table is a summary of the funding sources.
Funding Source Amount
General Fund $19.0 million
Self-Restricted General Fund (e.g. Cannabis Public Benefit) $15.0 million Revive Spending Plan (American Rescue Plan Act aka ARPA) $20.7 million Acquisition & Development fees from Developers $16.4 million Parks State Grants $7.2 million
CDBG $1.6 million
All Other Restricted Sources $0.1 million
Total: $80.0 million
Of the total $80.0 million budget, all but $8.9 million of the funding sources (grants, CDBG, and other restricted) are flexible for reallocation to different park projects.
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4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
There is no environmental impact associated with this action.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommendation to receive and file.
EXHIBIT(S)
1. Detailed List of Budgeted Park Projects
Submitted By: Kathryn Downs, Finance and Management Services Agency Executive Director
Approved By: Alvaro Nuñez, City Manager