LAKEPORT >> Engineering services for Phase 2 of the Downtown Lakeport Improvement Project were approved by the Lakeport City Council this week.
In October of last year, requests for proposals (RFP) were sent out for the project to 16 firms, with Sacramento-based Crawford and Associates, Inc., providing the only bid to develop and complete civil engineering plans.
“We were anticipating agreements and insurance to begin at the end of February, with design planning beginning at the beginning of march,” Lakeport Special Projects Coordinator Richard Knoll said. “So we are roughly about a month behind.”
Construction bidding was scheduled for August, with completion in September. An agreement with a contractor was expected to be wrapped up in early October.
“I don’t know what that does in terms of pushing it back for a whole season, it may be possible to do the construction during the wintertime,” Knoll said.
Phase 2 of the project consists of design engineering and construction plans, including landscaping, curb and drainage improvements, limited installation of street furniture, streetlights and the repaving of Main Street. The project will also widen sidewalks by two feet on both sides of Main Street; move street lights to the new edge of sidewalk; install new grates; plant trees; install new curb storm drain inlets, as well as sewer and water piping infrastructure, according to Knoll.
Originally, the council consider approving a professional services agreement with Ukiah-based Rau and Associates, Inc., awarded a contract for design engineering and construction plans after the first RFP was sent out in 2009.
The company began work on the plans the following year. However, 2011 saw Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature pass a measure to dissolve all redevelopment agencies in California.
The original contract totaled a little less than $317,000, of which a little less than $284,000 was paid before the termination of redevelopment agencies.
Lakeport Finance Director Daniel Buffalo said that the city was able to reclaim approximately $1.8 million in redevelopment funds from the California Department of Finance for the project.
The total of the new contract with Crawford and Associates is a little less than $165,000, as the scope of the agreement was reduced. Services to be provided include mapping and preliminary design of the project, construction bid assistance and 100-percent completion of the construction document phase.
According to the bid, documents will include the streetscape paving base layer showing sidewalk scoring, tree wells, planting cut-outs, site furniture, street lighting and other features outside the roadway. These plans will include the geometrics of the curb returns, utility improvements, road and sidewalk improvements including: planting, irrigation, landscape soil preparation, landscape drainage, site furnishings, custom concrete detailing for any seatwalls, planters, or other site concrete work.
A public meeting will be held to present the status of the project and to finalize the selection of the furniture.
No members of the public offered comment at the council meeting. The council unanimously approved the contract with a 5-0 vote.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
