Agenda Item Wording:
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Authorize the City Manager to award a sole-source professional design services contract to CWE for design of the East Side Regional Park’s (ESRP) Basin D for an amount not to exceed $275,265.18, and approve an appropriation of $324,070 from the various funds outlined within this report. (3010-72000/CP0396-999)
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Deadline for Action: 6/20/2022 to maintain the project schedule to meet the grant deadline of 8/1/2024
Submitting Department: Administration - CIP Engineering
Contact Name and Phone Number:
Rebecca Keenan, Senior Civil Engineer, Rebecca.Keenan@visalia.city, 713-4541
Frank Senteno, City Engineer, Frank.Senteno@visalia.city, 713-4331
Nick Mascia, Assistant City Manager, Nick.Mascia@visalia.city, 713-4323
Department Recommendation:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to award a sole-source Professional Design Services contract to CWE for design of the ESRP’s Basin D for an amount not to exceed $275,265.18, and approve an appropriation of $324,070 from the various funds outlined within this report.
Summary:
As previously reported to the City Council at the May 2, 2022, meeting, staff has been working with CWE to design the recharge basins at the East Side Regional Park. CWE is the hydraulic modeler and designer for Basin G & F and staff now recommends that the City award the design of Basin D to CWE as well. The City obtained a $1.9 million Green Infrastructure Grant for the construction of Basin D and because of the grant’s deadline of August 1, 2024, design needs to start as soon as possible, and for this reason, staff requests that Council act on this item today. The project will construct Recharge Basin D, pipes, structures, dry wells, trails, and grade a small portion of the park’s circulation road and lots. According to preliminary budget estimates, there are sufficient funds in this CIP to award this contract for professional design services. Construction of Basin D will go towards the goal of completing the seven (7) groundwater recharge basins located at this site.
Background Discussion:
Approximately 282 acres of property in the general area of Mineral King and Road 152 have been acquired since 2001 for a future East Side Regional Park, the future Tower Street (Road 148) Interchange with SR-198, and groundwater recharge facilities. Approximately 248 acres will be used for a regional park and groundwater recharge facilities. In 2014, the City entered into agreements with Provost and Pritchard Consulting Group and The HLA Group to create a master plan (Attachment 3) and prepare the final EIR with associated technical studies for the park and recharge portions of the property. Although the EIR process for the entire 248-acre park is still ongoing, staff prepared Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 2019-73 to evaluate environmental impacts for the Green Infrastructure Grant, Basins D and E. This environmental document was prepared in support of a competitive grant application that was submitted to the Proposition 68 Green Infrastructure Program through the State of California Natural Resources Agency.
The City of Visalia requested $3M to fund the construction of Basins D and E, which would develop approximately 25 acres of land for public open space and ground water recharge. However, the program was not able to fund the full amount and so the Agency extended a grant award of $1,907,244 for the construction of Basin D, which the City accepted. Basin D is the smallest of the basins, at 2.5 AC, but it will serve as a settling basin for water that may eventually come directly from the nearby Mill Creek. The Basin D project will develop approximately 6.5 acres of open space around the basin, approximately 3 acres of landscaping and vegetated swales, approximately 0.3 mile of nature trail, and two dry well recharge systems. The Basin D project will also provide the pipe connection stubs to the future Basin E and to Mill Creek (Mill Creek will be realigned to a more meandering path in the future as a separate CIP). The Basin D project will provide public access from the west side of Road 152, along a new gravel paved road and parking lots which will be constructed with the project.
Sole-Source Justification:
Staff is recommending to sole-source the professional design services to CWE because of the following benefits:1) taking advantage of area topographic survey previously collected by CWE; previous hydraulic modeling; and engineering work already commenced for the area by the consultant, in terms of Basin F & G; 2) promoting efficiencies by minimizing the level of effort to bring a new consultant up to speed and avoiding overlapping work; and 3) reducing staff time and costs involved in a request for proposal process.
The consultant, CWE, is currently designing recharge Basins G and F of the master planned park. They have the needed topographic survey information and geotechnical information to continue the design effort on Basin D. They also have worked through issues that emerged through the design of the first two basins, and can apply that learned knowledge to Basin D. For example, they have identified the processes needed for permitting of the dry wells, the basins, and for possible adjustments to the area’s ditches and creeks. They have also gained valuable information regarding the City’s objective of not only growing our groundwater recharge facilities, but also to prepare the area for the concurrent land use of a beautiful riparian area and park. This knowledge is important because it will help the team to expedite the preparation of the construction bid package.
In addition, although the original recharge basin and park master plan identify the proposed locations of the groundwater recharge basin system, this consultant has performed the actual modeling of Basins F & G, and the related pipe network system. As part of the scope of work under this contract, the consultant will expand their initial modeling to include the remaining basins, A through E. Modeling the basins will help to ensure that each basin in the system is designed to efficiently deliver and recharge the allotted surface water. This will help the City to maximize the effectiveness of groundwater recharge and to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Act.
Finally, staff recommends the sole-source award of this professional design services contract to CWE in order to reduce staff time and costs involved in going through the City’s standard procurement process. That process typically requires significant staff effort to prepare the request for proposals, issue the request, hold pre-proposal meetings, answer questions, issue addendums, go through the proposal review process, hold interviews, and formally award the professional services contract. CWE is a design firm located in Fullerton, California that specializes in civil infrastructure, water resources, and environmental engineering services. They have successfully provided similar services on over 3,100 acres of groundwater recharge basins and have provided those communities with over 27,100 acre-feet of ground water recharge. Those projects make CWE highly qualified in groundwater recharge basin and recreational amenity design. CWE has been responsive and knowledgeable in working on the design of Basins F&G. In addition, they are working with Staff to finalize the Citywide Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP). The SWMP is being developed to comply with the State Water Resource Control Board (SWRCB), General Order No. 2013-001-DWQ. As a federal designated Phase II MS4, the City of Visalia is required to obtain coverage under an NPDES storm water permit. As part of the permit application, the City worked with CWE to develop a SWMP that addresses the six (6) minimal control measures outlined in the order. CWE is also currently working as a subconsultant to prepare updates to the existing City of Visalia Public Facility Master Plans for Stormwater and Sanitary Sewer Collection. Staff reports that CWE has performed satisfactorily on these two projects.
Fiscal Impact:
Award of the Professional Design Services Agreement to CWE will fall within the currently allocated project budget and only local funds will be utilized to pay for these design services. The design phase can be used as a portion of the match for the Green Infrastructure Grant. The construction phase of the project will be paid for using Green Infrastructure Grant, and local funds will also be used to meet the match.
Staff has updated the overall project budget to reflect more current construction costs and now includes a 30% construction contingency in consideration of the volatile economy, as shown in Table 1 in the attachments.
The updated project estimate includes a 30% construction contingency, rather than the standard 10% and is a contingency based on the total of the civil and landscape construction amount. As previously noted in the May 2, 2022, staff report, the higher contingency is being applied due to increasing inflation and rising gas prices related to global geopolitical events. Therefore, this report requests an additional appropriation in anticipation of escalating costs and is discussed in further detail below. Though this project is currently at the preliminary engineering phase; staff will update the project budget again at bid time and return any unused funds to their appropriate fund.
As a part of the grant, this project includes some ancillary recreation elements, including riparian habitat, trails, seating, gravel parking lots and gravel access road that will contribute to the overall park’s infrastructure. Staff recommends that the following funds be used for the needed appropriation of funds: Measure R Trails - 132, Rec Facilities Park Impact Fund - 211, Groundwater Recharge Fund - 224, and the Waterways Capital Fund - 261.
Following is a summary of the anticipated fund split: See table 2 in the attachments.
Table 2 shows that there is currently $422,090 allocated to this project from the Groundwater Recharge Fund 224 plus a grant amount of $1,907,244 for a total project budget of $2,329,334. Staff recommends that an additional $324,070 be allocated from the funds shown in Table 2. This updated project budget reflects an increase due to a 30% construction contingency. If the economy stabilizes by the time this project bids, this amount may be decreased. Any unused funds will be returned to the respective fund at the end of the project, at the percentages shown above.
Prior Council Action:
• May 2, 2022 - The Council received an update of Groundwater Recharge Basins G & F and appropriated approximately $3,350,000 for Basin G; authorized the City Manager to decline a grant offer from the National Park Service (NPS) Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the amount of approximately $2.4M; authorized staff to complete design of Basin F and release any remaining City match funds back to the funds; and to pursue appropriate grant funding for the construction of groundwater recharge Basin F.
• April 4, 2020 - The Council authorized the City Manager to accept and execute a grant for $1,907,244 from the Proposition 68 Green Infrastructure Program through the State of California Natural Resources Agency to construct a groundwater recharge basin with habitat improvements, create a new CIP, and appropriate associated funds.
Alternatives: None Recommended
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to award a sole-source professional design services contract to CWE for design of the ESRP Basin D, for an amount not to exceed $275,265.18, and approve the appropriation of $324,070 from the various funds outlined within this report.
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Environmental Assessment Status:
CEQA Review: Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 2019-73 were prepared for the Green Infrastructure Grant.
Attachments:
1. Vicinity Map
2. Location Map
3. Site Master Plan B1
4. Ownership Disclosure