Honorable Mayor and Members of the Hermosa Beach City Council Regular Meeting of June 11, 2019
Title
NORTH SCHOOL PROJECT NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC
MANAGEMENT PLAN AWARD OF CONTRACT
(Environmental Analyst Leeanne Singleton)
Body
Recommended Action:
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize staff to jointly award with the Hermosa Beach City School District Board, a contract for the development of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan (NTMP) for North School to Fehr & Peers in an amount not to exceed $124,200.
2. Transfer $12,100 from the City’s 2018-19 Prospective Expenditures into the City Manager’s contract services account.
Body
Executive Summary:
Following the certification of the North School EIR in January 2019, the City and School District team met on multiple occasions to discuss traffic and safety in the area surrounding the school, and in February 2019 came to approve a Memorandum of Understanding that was approved by both the City Council and School Board memorializing the commitment of both parties to work together collaboratively to safely manage transportation, traffic, and student loading and unloading activities.
The commitments of the MOU will be fulfilled primarily through the development and implementation of a Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan (NTMP) and a draft scope of work was presented to and approved by the City Council and School Board in April 2019. Following approval of the scope of work, staff from the City and School District worked to finalize the Request for Proposals and began the advertisement process inviting proposers in early May.
Proposals were due on May 28, 2019 and interviews were conducted with the four teams on Monday June 3, 2019. Based on the review of proposals and scoring of interviews, the interview panel has recommended the City and School District award a contract to Fehr & Peers to develop the North School Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan.
Background:
The passage of the Measure S school bond in June 2016 created the Measure S School Facilities Project, which calls for the reconstruction of North School and the revitalization/modernization of the School District's two current schools. To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the School District prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the North School Reconstruction Project and took action to certify the Final EIR and approve the project on January 9, 2019.
Since certification of the Final EIR by the School Board on January 9, 2019, the City and School District representatives have met as a team frequently to discuss the terms of the tolling agreement and collaborate on the conditions to be included in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Under the leadership of Mayor Stacey Armato, School Board President Doug Gardner, Councilmember Justin Massey, and School Board Member Maggie Bove-LaMonica, on February 27, 2019, the Memorandum of Understanding was approved by both the City Council and School Board memorializing the commitment of both parties to work together collaboratively to safely manage transportation, traffic, and student loading and unloading activities.
Fulfilling the commitments of the MOU will be accomplished primarily through the development and implementation of a Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan (NTMP). As articulated in the MOU and as required under Mitigation Measure TRAF-5(d) in the Final EIR, the NTMP is intended to serve as an iterative plan to identify operational traffic concerns on adjacent streets resulting from the Project and ways to manage them accordingly. The MOU describes a process where the City and School District mutually agree on the scope of work to be contained within a request for proposals (RFP) to jointly hire the traffic engineer, transportation planner, and/or third-party expertise needed to manage the preparation of the NTMP.
The Draft Scope of Work for the RFP was provided and approved by the City Council and School Board in April 2019. Staff subsequently finalized the request for proposals (Attachment 1) and began the advertisement process inviting proposers in early May.
Discussion:
The North School Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan RFP was posted on May 7, 2019 and included the timeline identified in Table 1.
In addition to posting the RFP on the City and District’s websites, advertising in the Easy Reader, and posting on LinkedIn, staff directly invited approximately 35 transportation planning/traffic engineering consulting firms and shared the RFP with three bid clearinghouses to expand the potential number of responses from qualified firms.
By the May 28, 2019 deadline to submit, a total of four proposals were received ranging in costs from $48,945 to $162,500 including the optional tasks requested in the RFP to prepare the Pedestrian and Vehicle Travel Route Maps and Transportation Management Program.
All four proposals were considered responsive based on the proposal review criteria (Attachment 2) and therefore interviews were scheduled with each team. The interview panel convened on Monday June 3, 2019 and included:
• Maggie Bove-LaMonica, School Board Member
• Nancy Bartolo, School District’s Authorized Representative for Measure S
• Leeanne Singleton, City of Hermosa Beach Environmental Analyst
• Erik Zandvliet, City of Manhattan Beach Traffic Engineer
The interview panel asked a range of questions to proposers regarding project understanding, community engagement, schedule delivery, experience with similar projects, and creative problem-solving tactics and scored each team using the same proposal review criteria.
Based on the submitted proposals, interviews, and reference checks, the interview panel identified Fehr and Peers as the top-ranked team to lead the development of the North School Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan for the City and School District. The originally submitted proposal is provided as Attachment 3. The interview panel was particularly impressed with team’s depth of experience both in Hermosa Beach and with similarly complex traffic calming projects and felt the team proposed a rational approach and reasonable schedule to successfully meet the needs of the City and the School District.
The interview panel highlighted the following observations of the Fehr & Peers proposal and team that contributed to the recommendation:
• Phased approach that focused on the areas of common ground to build consensus
• Thoughtful reflection of the challenges with the site and neighborhood
• Team members with traffic calming and city-specific expertise that was presented in an engaging manner
• Positive experience with City on past projects and significant data available through past projects to jump start project
• Reliance on technology and data to demonstrate range of potential solutions and consider the tradeoffs with various scenarios
• Articulated understanding that solutions would be a balance between engineering design and transportation demand management-based outreach
With the recommendation of the interview team, staff identified a few areas in the Fehr & Peers proposal where the scope of work could potentially be streamlined and worked with the Fehr & Peers team to submit a revised scope of work and budget (Attachment 4) for the required tasks of $124,200. The changes to the scope of work and budget include:
• Reduction in the Principal billing rate and addition of a junior engineer to the project team;
• Consolidation of the number of study session/public hearing meetings with the City Council and School Board from 6 to 3, with one initial City/School joint meeting, one School meeting, and one City meeting where consultant support may be needed;
• Reduction in some of the funds set aside for reproduction or printing of materials.
General Plan Consistency:
PLAN Hermosa, the City’s General Plan, was adopted by the City Council in August 2017. The development of the NTMP related to North School would help implement our collective community vision to provide exceptional local schools to the Hermosa Beach community and support several goals of the Governance Element, Land Use Element, and Mobility Element.
Governance Element
Goal 1 - A high degree of transparency and integrity in the decision-making process.
• 1.6 Long-term considerations. Prioritize decisions that provide long-term community benefit and discourage decisions that provide short-term community benefit but reduce long-term opportunities.
Goal 2 - The community is active and engaged in decision-making process.
• 2.7 Major planning efforts. Require major planning efforts, policies, or projects to include a public engagement effort.
Goal 8 - A performance-based management and benchmarking program.
• 8.1 Community Indicators. Utilize performance metrics, standards, and data collection procedures to evaluate progress towards goals.
Land Use Element
Goal 7 - Adequate space and appropriate integration of community and school facilities that support physical activity, civic life and social connections for residents of all ages and interests.
• 7.2 Joint use with schools. Where appropriate, maintain and enhance joint use agreements with Hermosa Beach City School District to maximize community use of school facilities and expand school use of City park facilities and community space to expand opportunities for physical activity.
• 7.3 School modernization upgrades. Support Hermosa Beach City School District plans to renovate and modernize school facilities to meet evolving educational needs in a manner that minimizes burdens to adjacent neighborhoods.
• 7.4 Flexible use of school facilities. Collaborate with the school district to identify appropriate temporary and flexible uses of school facilities that minimize impacts to surrounding neighborhoods during dips or fluctuations in school enrollment numbers.
Mobility Element
Goal 2 - A public realm that is safe, comfortable, and convenient for travel via foot, bicycle, public transit, and automobile and creates vibrant, people-oriented public spaces that encourage active living.
• 2.1 Prioritize public right-of-ways. Prioritize improvements of public right-of-ways that provide heightened levels of safe, comfortable and attractive public spaces for all non-motorized travelers while balancing the needs of efficient vehicular circulation.
• 2.2 Encourage traffic calming. Encourage traffic calming policies and techniques to improve the safety and efficient movement of people and vehicles along residential areas and highly trafficked corridors.
Goal 3 - Public right-of-ways supporting a multimodal and people-oriented transportation system that provides diversity and flexibility on how users choose to be mobile.
• 3.3 Active transportation. Require commercial development or redevelopment projects and residential projects with four or more units to accommodate active transportation by providing on-site amenities, necessary connections to adjacent existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle networks, and incorporate people-oriented design practices.
• 3.9 Access for emergency vehicles. Ensure that emergency vehicles have secure and convenient access to the city’s street network.
• 3.10 Require ADA standards. Require that all public right-of-ways be designed per Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards by incorporating crosswalks, curb ramps, pedestrian signals, and other components to provide ease of access for disabled persons.
• 3.11 Site specific conditions. Evaluate and incorporate any site specific conditions or restrictions on public property or right-of-ways during the design and engineering phases for pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
Goal 7 - A transportation system that results in zero transportation-related fatalities and which minimizes injuries.
• 7.1 Safe public right-of-ways. Encourage that all public right-of-ways are safe for all users at all times of day where users of all ages and ability feel comfortable participating in both motorized and non-motorized travel.
• 7.2 Manage speeds. Monitor vehicle speeds through traffic controls, speed limits, and design features with the intended purpose of minimizing vehicle accidents, creating a pedestrian and bicycle environment, and discouraging cut-through traffic.
• 7.4 Traffic safety programs. Prioritize traffic safety programs oriented towards safe access to schools and community facilities that focus on walking, biking, and driving in school zones.
Fiscal Impact:
Based on the cost-sharing agreement of the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the School District, the City’s share of the overall contract would be $62,100. In the 2019-20 Preliminary Budget, $50,000 has been appropriated in the City Manager’s contract services account for the City’s share of the development of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan. Staff recommends approval of a one-time transfer of $12,100 from Prospective Expenditures into the City Manager’s contract services account in 2018-19 in order to cover the City’s remaining share of the contract.
Attachments:
1. North School Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan Request for Proposals
2. Proposal and Interview Evaluation Criteria
3. Fehr & Peers Original Submitted Proposal
4. Fehr & Peers Draft Contract and Revised Scope of Work/Fee Schedule
Respectfully Submitted by: Leeanne Singleton, AICP, Environmental Analyst
Noted for Fiscal Impact: Charlotte Newkirk, Accounting Manager
Legal Review: Lauren Langer, Assistant City Attorney
Approved: Suja Lowenthal, City Manager