Monday, August 31, 2009

Three Noteworthy 1 September 2009 City Council Agenda Items

ABSTRACT: Three noteworthy 1 September 2009 City Council Agenda Items, namely, Receive City’s Fourth Quarter 2008-09 financial report, Consideration of a Resolution entering into a contract with William Camille for construction phasing and cost planning services for the Forest Theater in an amount not to exceed $15,000 and Consideration of a Resolution amending the Del Mar Master Plan to include a pedestrian pathway along the west side of San Antonio Avenue from Ocean Avenue to the Pebble Beach Gate and a beach access staircase at the north end of the beach are presented. Selected excerpts from Agenda Items Summaries, Staff Reports and letters are presented for Agenda Items. A COMMENT is made on a selected Agenda Item.

AMENDED AGENDA
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, September 1, 2009

4:30 p.m., Open Session

Live and archived video streaming available

City Hall
East side of Monte Verde Street between Ocean and Seventh Avenues

V. Announcements from Closed Session, from City Council Members and
the City Administrator.

5. Receive City’s Fourth Quarter 2008-09 financial report.


Summary of Financial Results-Twelve Months Ended June 30, 2009

The General Fund financial results for FY 208/09 show a deficit of $(498,562) as compared to an expected deficit of $(346,841). The budgeted deficit was due to the approval by the City Council to transfer the previous year’s surplus of $346,841 from the General Fund to the Capital Project Reserve.

Revenues suffered as the result of the slow economy. However, revenue losses were partially offset by positive budget variances in operating expenditures and Capital Budget expenditures. The financial results as presented are unaudited and therefore may change after the annual audit is complete.

The City’s total General Fund revenues for the twelve months ended June 30, 2009 totaled $13,504,153 as compared to the annual budget of $13,959,340. In total for the fiscal year, revenues were below budget by $455,187.

Revenues: Top 3 (Jul 2009-Jun 2009)
Property Tax:
$4,058,576 (Actual)
$3,892,000 (Budget)
$166,576 (Budget Variance Favorable/(Unfavorable))

Transient Occupancy Tax:
$3,787,083 (Actual)
$4,261,640 (Budget)
(474,557) (Budget Variance Favorable/(Unfavorable)

Sales Tax:
$2,066,709 (Actual)
$2,164,000 (Budget)
$(98,291) (Budget Variance Favorable/(Unfavorable)

VII. Consent Calendar
These matters include routine financial and administrative actions, which are usually approved by a single majority vote. Individual items may be removed from Consent by a member of the Council or the public for discussion and action.

E. Consideration of a Resolution entering into a contract with William Camille for construction phasing and cost planning services for the Forest Theater in an amount not to exceed $15,000.


Description: Richard McCann has completed the Schematic Design for the Forest Theater Renovation Project. Submitted with the Schematic Design was a phasing scheme including cost estimates that focused more on functionality as they relate to the user groups and the audience. The McCann estimates were exclusively for construction work and did not include soft costs and non-construction costs.

At the request of staff, William Camille submitted a bid to review the proposed Forest Theater Renovation from a project management perspective. Mr. Camille has extensive experience in managing construction projects. His recommendation is to retain Mack5 to help analyze the project construction phasing costs. Their combined review will provide the City with a project scope that emphasizes compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and construction of new restroom facilities.

Overall Cost:
City Funds: $15,000

Staff Recommendation: Approve the Resolution.

Important Considerations: It is important to understand the implications of phasing the Renovation Project. A carefully conceived phasing plan is imperative in the financial planning of the proposed Renovation Project.

Decision Record: The City Council held a workshop at the Forest Theater and has reviewed the progress of the Renovation Project at several Council meetings.

Letter to City from William J. Camille, Project Management Consultant
Dated: July 3, 2009
Re: Forest Theater Renovation
Construction phasing and cost planning proposal

“In conjunction with Mark Kelly of MACK5, who will provide cost estimating support, we propose to offer an alternative constructible phasing plan that will prioritize completion of the City’s primary concerns of ADA compliance and new restroom facilities. The scope of work to be included in the phases will be tailored to budget limitations to be defined by the City. MACK5 will provide cost estimates for each of the defined phases and for the project in total. The cost estimates will include soft costs as well as construction costs. Soft costs will be included in the Cost Model Manager referenced in the encloses MACK% proposal. Out proposal anticipates a preliminary review of our findings with the City, a final report, and presentation to City Council.”

Letter to William J/ Camille from Mark Kelly, LEED AP, of MACK5
Dated: July 22, 2009

Background
The City of Carmel wished to renovate the existing outdoor Forest Theater. Given the current economic and market conditions the City has opted to pursue a three-phase improvement plan that would maximize the return on City funds.

Objectives of the Assignment
Provide detailed cost estimates for each phase of construction at the Schematic Design phase. The estimates will be based on drawings and specifications produced by RF McCann & Company.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN
Construction Cost Estimate (3 phases) $4,500
Cost Model Manager (3 phases) $5,500
TOTAL: $10,000

Timing We require three weeks from your notice to proceed and receipt of the documents to visit the site and complete the cost plans.

COMMENT:
Mayor Sue McCloud led the public to believe that construction on the Forest Theatre renovation would begin in April 2009. When the Resolution was unanimously approved by the City Council in December 2008 for the completion of the Schematic Design by theatre architect Richard McCann, “in an amount of $131,000,” the estimated completion date was March 2009; the City is leading us to believe the Schematic Design was recently completed in August 2009. Now, at this City Council meeting, there is a Resolution to contract with William Camille for “construction phasing and cost planning services” in an amount not to exceed $15,000. Only a poorly managed city would have such delays, inefficiencies and lack of communications from city officials. Conversely, a well managed city, a competent City Administrator/Manager would be able to perform the aforementioned tasks in consultation with the theatre architect.

X. Resolutions

B. Consideration of a Resolution amending the Del Mar Master Plan to include a pedestrian pathway along the west side of San Antonio Avenue from Ocean Avenue to the Pebble Beach Gate and a beach access staircase at the north end of the beach.


Description: The Del Mar Master Plan encompasses the Del Mar parking lot, located at the foot of Ocean Avenue, the Del Mar Dunes, located between the parking lot and 8th Avenue, and the North Dunes, which encompasses the area north of the parking lot to the City line.

The proposed amendments will create a pedestrian path from the Pebble Beach Gate to Ocean Avenue along San Antonio Avenue. A staircase also is proposed near the north end of the beach bluff to provide direct beach access.

Staff Recommendation: Adopt the Resolution.

Important Considerations: Goal 4-2 of the General Plan encourages the City to develop a master plan for the Del Mar and North Dunes area. The proposed amendments will improve pedestrian access to and along the Master Plan area and will improve pedestrian safety along San Antonio Avenue.

Decision Record: The Forest and Beach Commission recommended adoption of the plan on 4 September 2008 and the Planning Commission recommended adoption of the Plan on 20 May 2009. The City Council adopted the Plan on 2 June 2009.

CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
STAFF REPORT
FROM: SEAN CONROY, PLNG & BLDG SERVICES MNGR
DATE: 1 SEPTEMBER 2009

BACKGROUND & PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The City Council approved the Del Mar Master Plan on 2 June 2009. The Plan addresses improvements to the Del Mar parking area, dune restoration efforts, and access improvements in the Del Mar and North Dunes.

The City has had discussions recently with the Pebble Beach Company about installing a pedestrian path along the west side of San Antonio Avenue from the Pebble Beach Gate to Ocean Avenue. The proposed amendments also include reconstructing and improving an old staircase from the beach bluff to the beach at the northern end of the beach along with additional polices and objectives from the General Plan related to access, dune restoration and drainage. The plan does not address any path improvements along the Del Mar Dunes.

EVALUATION
Access: A principal objective of both the California Coastal Act and the Del Mar Master Plan is providing public access to and along the coast. Pedestrian access along San Antonio Avenue from Ocean Avenue to the Pebble Beach Gate is extremely limited and hazardous. The rights-of-way along the street are narrow, leaving little room for pedestrians. The proposed pathway will significantly improve pedestrian access along this corridor.

Besides improving access along San Antonio Avenue, the pathway will link the newly constructed Fourth Avenue Pathway and the Jane Powers Walkway. These paths now lead to San Antonio Avenue with no safe route to the beach. The proposed pathway will significantly improve pedestrian safety coming from Fourth Avenue and/or the Jane Powers Walkway.

The amended plan proposes to reconstruct and improve a staircase from the beach bluff down to the beach near the northern end of the beach. There was a wood staircase at in this location years ago, but it has not been maintained for some time. The proposed staircase will allow pedestrians to enter the dunes through the existing beach access trail on the north side of the Sand and Sea Development and walk through the dunes and down to the beach at the proposed staircase. These changes are shown in underline on page six of the plan and on figure three at the end of the plan.

The proposed changes will significantly improve the pedestrian experience and provide additional opportunities for public access and recreation.

RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the attached Resolution.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am somewhat confused about the Del Mar Master Plan just being approved in 2009. I was under the impression a Del Mar Master Plan was in the certified Local Coastal Program back in 2004.

I think it is long past time for the city to build a pedestrian pathway from the Pebble Beach Gate to Ocean Av. for safety reasons. I also wonder why the old stairway was not maintained. There seem to be a lot of basis infrastructure and safety items that are not acted upon in a timely way by the city, adequately maintaining streets in Carmel is another obvious one.

Anonymous said...

Just a comment on the consultant hired for the Forest Theater remodel. It looks like the city is using the economic downturn as an excuse not to fund the McCann three phases over years. It looks like they are ditching the McCann plan and going for the minimun, ADA requirements and restrooms. I wonder what the Forest Theatre Foundation has to say about that, after they spent $30,000 hiring Richard McCann for the pre-design?

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight. The Forest Theater Foundation raised $30,000 for the Richard McCann pre-design, the city funded his schematic design and now the city is hiring Mr. Camille to go over the schematic design and pull out only ADA and restroom construction items. It seems the city is going backwards. Why not just fund each of McCann's phases over multiple years. And if the ADA and restrooms are done, what assurance do we have that the McCann design will ever be realized? What do the people at PacRep, CET and Forest Theater Guild have to say about this, are they on board or not?

Anonymous said...

Why is the city not funding the full FT renovation McCann plan? Because the city does not have FOUR MILLION DOLLARS to spend on it.

Also, the FT Foundation people are unable to raise the money as part of a public/private collaboration and have turned it over completely to the city to fund.

So, the city is trying to find a way to afford the bare minimum upgrades to address safety concerns. Camille will try to help them figure out how to do that and how much it will cost. Something McCann was supposed to do and didn't. So now the city pays twice for the same cost planning and phasing, once to McCann and now to Camille.