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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/21/2005 - STAFF REPORTS (9) OF PALM B PP City Council Staff Report DATE: September 21, 2005 CONSENT CALENDAR SUBJECT: VISITORS' CENTER LANDSCAPING AND SEATING AREA FROM: David H. Ready, City Manager BY: Public Works & Engineering Department and Community & Economic Development Department SUMMARY Award of this contractwill allow for construction of the landscaping and irrigation as well as the concrete work, stone paving, seat walls and lighting at the Palm Springs Visitors' Center. RECOMMENDATION: 1) Adopt Minute Order No. "APPROVING THE PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE VISITORS' CENTER LANDSCAPING, CITY PROJECT NO. 05-05." 2) Adopt Minute Order No. "APPROVING AGREEMENT NO. WITH AMERICA WEST LANDSCAPING, INCORPORATED IN THE AMOUNT OF$124,858.05 FOR THE VISITORS' CENTER LANDSCAPING, CITY PROJECT NO. 05-05." 3) Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents. STAFF ANALYSIS: In early 2004 as the City was wrapping up the remodeling project that converted the recently acquired historic Albert Frey-designed Tramway Gas Station from its prior use as an art gallery to become the City's Visitors' Center, the local Rotary Clubs proposed financial assistance to complete the construction of an outdoor amphitheater-style seating area and related landscaping enhancements at the Center. Rotary's proposed $20,000 financial assistance for the terraced seating area and landscaping installations was initiated as its Centennial Year community service project to be celebrated during the 2004-05 fiscal year. Item No. 2 . 1�C . City Council Staff Report September 21,2005-Page 2 Visitors' Center Landscaping The seating area and landscaping, along with several other improvements, were previously deleted from the original remodeling project by the City Council due to budget constraints. As a result, while these elements were included in the original concept plans for the Center, they had never progressed to the stage of construction plans and specifications forthe eventual public bidding for construction. In addition, the various review bodies required by City procedures had not fully considered these elements of the original concept plan. As a City-owned facility with Class I historic site status, the review bodies included a City Council subcommittee comprised of Mayor Oden and Council Member Mills, the Historic Site Preservation Board (HSPB), the Design Review Committee, Planning Commission and ultimately the full City Council. In addition to the extensive review process, the project was challenged by limited financial resources, making the Rotary contribution especially important in bringing the project to fruition. The initial "guesstimate" of $20,000 for the amphitheater seating area did not include architectural design fees orfull landscaping costs so the need for additional funds was always anticipated for completion of the project. TKD Associates, Inc. was enlisted on a volunteer basis to prepare the conceptual plans needed to begin the review process simultaneously with City staff efforts to identify additional funding sources for this and other improvement projects desired for the Center. In mid-2004 it was acknowledged that while the schedule would be aggressive, all efforts should be targeted toward completion of the project and a "ribbon cutting" event to be held in February 2005 in conjunction with Rotary's Centennial Anniversary. During September 2004, TKD continued working on the conceptual plans and staff pursued the installation of landscaping around the perimeter wall utilizing the previous irrigation system from the former art gallery. During its efforts, staff discovered that the previous irrigation system was no longer functional and also lacked an appropriate water source to serve this area and the eventual landscaping to be installed throughout the site. As a result, the perimeter landscaping was folded into the seating area project for an integrated approach to the entire site's landscaping needs. The HSPB reviewed the project on October 12, 2004 and recommended several revisions in the conceptual plans. A similar process was completed with the Design Review Board on October 25. A follow-up meeting with the Council sub-committee was required to address some of the issues raised by the Design Review Board. The Planning Commission approved the revised conceptual plan on November 10 and on December 14, 2004 the HSPB was updated on the revisions made by the other groups. Rotary was kept appraised of these efforts and the increasing certainty that the project would not be completed by the end of February 2005 as previously hoped. The goal was revised to complete the project prior to the completion of Rotary's year-long anniversary celebration, which would mean installation no later than June 2005. Staff proceeded with drafting a formal contract with TKD Associates to prepare the required plans and specifications forbidding out the eventual construction and installation of the seating area and landscaping under City Council Staff Report September 21, 2005- Page 3 Visitors' Center Landscaping the assumption that the City Council would approve the conceptual plan, which it did, on January 5, 2005. All parties executed the $7,500 contract with TKD in mid,- January. During the preparation of the plans and specifications several issues arose that had to be addressed, including ADA concerns about wheelchair access to the seating area, pre-existing utility locations for serving the expanded electrical and water requirements of the improvements and other miscellaneous clarifications needed by our Engineering Department to eventually publicly bid the project. During this time staff continued its efforts to obtain additional funding for both this project and future improvements at the Center. As TKD Associates, Inc. was wrapping up their work on the Plans and Specifications for bidding the project, they calculated a probable construction budget forthe project of$40,300. Therefore, the project cost, including design fees was now estimated at approximately $48,000. Staff was successful in obtaining funds from a new assessment district tied to the development of the Mountain Gate II subdivision by Century Homes with $150,000 of those funds earmarked for this project and future anticipated enhancement projects to be determined through a separate process. With the additional Century funding in hand, the decision was made to proceed with bidding out the project with an anticipated groundbreaking ceremony in June 2005. The project was initially advertised for bids in May 2005. However at the May 31, 2005 bid opening, no bids were received. The common response from potential bidders was that the project was either too small or that they were just too busy with other construction projects around the Valley to bid on the project. With that information, staff consulted with Rotary and accepted Rotary's decision to postpone the groundbreaking ceremony until some time in the future when it would be more likely that press coverage would be forthcoming for the project's implementation, including an on-site work effort by Rotary members in the planting of the new landscaping, and the eventual ribbon cutting for the completed facility. In June and early July Engineering and Economic Development staff contacted several contractors in an attempt to solicit proposals for the project, which it is generally allowed to do in the instance of no bids, and was successful in obtaining two proposals. Unfortunately, both proposals were significantly higher than anticipated with an average cost estimate of approximately $127,000. In comparing the original construction cost estimate of $40,300 with the two proposals of$101,145 and$152,280,the largest single difference was the estimated cost of the concrete seat wall, flatwork and flagstone for the seating area. The original estimate for these elements was $12,613 while the average proposal cost was $63,218. Other significant differences were original estimates of$18,581 for landscaping versus average proposal costs of$37,421, $2,610 for irrigation versus $14,505; and $2,800 for lighting versus $8,618. City Council Staff Report September 21,2005-Page 4 Visitors'Center Landscaping Given that disappointing news, it was eventually decided to re-bid the project simultaneously with the City's new entry sign to be located just north of the Visitor's Center in the hope that a more acceptable bid would be forthcoming from an expanded list of potential contractors, as well as the potential that aggregating the two projects could potentially create some economy of scale. Therefore, on August 9 and 16, 2005 the project was re-advertised for bids and on August 30, 2005 the Procurement & Contracting Manager received the following construction bid: 1) America West Landscaping, Incorporated, Downey, CA in the amount of $124,858.05. This company is a corporation with the following officers: Duane Groen, President, Humberto Raigoza, Vice President. Although invited to bid, neither of the two firms previously submitting informal proposals responded. As previously indicated this projectwas initially estimated at less than$100,000 and therefore was not brought to Council for approval of the plans and specifications. Under the terms of the City's Procurement Ordinance, when the actual bid amount exceeds $105,000 the contract is required to be re-bid as a formal contract. In this case, all advertising for this contract, with the exception of going to Council for approval of the plans and specifications, was done the second time as if this was a formal contract bid. This was not because Staff felt the landscape architect's estimate was necessarily incorrect and that the bid would be more than $100,000, but to get the bid as much exposure as possible. Therefore, upon the advice of the City Attorney and the Procurement&Contracting Manager, Council also is required to approve the Minute Order approving the plans and specifications concurrently with the bid award. FISCAL IMPACT: " Funds for this project are available in the VisitorInformation Center- Building and Equipment Account which has a current balance of$149,802. Combined with the $20,000 contribution from the local Rotary Clubs, this would leave a balance of approximately $45,000 for any future site improvements or other incidental costs. �Aj— David J. Barakian, Director of Public Works/ ity Engineer John Ra&�direct of Community & EconomicIbevelopment David H. Ready, City Man er ,.' Attachments: 1. Minute Order - Approving Plans & Specifications 2. Minute Order -Awarding Bid MINUTE ORDER NO. APPROVING THE PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE VISITORS' CENTER LANDSCAPING, CITY PROJECT NO. 05-05. I, James Thompson, City Clerk of the City of Palm Springs, California, hereby certify that this Minute Order approving the plans and specifications forthe Visitors'Center Landscaping, City Project no. 05-05, was adopted by the City Council of the City of Palm Springs, California, in a meeting thereof held on the day of ,2005. James Thompson, City Clerk MINUTE ORDER NO. APPROVING AGREEMENT NO. WITH AMERICA WEST LANDSCAPING, INCORPORATED IN THE AMOUNT OF $124,858.08 FOR THE VISITORS' CENTER LANDSCAPING, CITY PROJECT NO. 05-05. I, James Thompson, City Clerkof the Cityof Palm Springs, California, hereby certify that this Minute Order approving Agreement No. With America West Landscaping, Incorporated in the amount of $124,858.08 for the Visitors' Center Landscaping, City Project No. 05-05, was adopted by the City Council of the City of Palm Springs, California, in a meeting thereof held on the day of 12005. James Thompson, City Clerk