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Prioritization of Park Projects <br />October 15, 2024 <br />Page 2 <br />4 <br />6 <br />1 <br />7 <br />6 <br />3 <br />4 <br />With rising construction costs, recent bids for projects have exceeded engineering <br />estimates. As a result, staff must reassess available resources to address the funding <br />gaps for each project. Two of the latest examples follow. <br />Memorial Park Aquatic Center <br />The City’s budget for this project is $29.9 million, including $23.7 million for construction <br />and a contingency. The lowest responsive construction bid was $26.7 million. After <br />adding a 10% contingency of $2.7 million and decreasing the budgeted allocation for <br />engineering costs, the City’s budget for this project is short by $4.1 million. Drivers of <br />the high project cost include an all-electric infrastructure (added $1 million), lighting for <br />the aquatic facility ($0.5 million), and soil liquefaction that required additional foundation <br />work ($1.4 million). Staff will recommend using $2.8 million of the budget for splash <br />pads, plus savings from other park projects, and other deferred maintenance allocations <br />totaling $3.9 million, to close the funding gap. The details of the reallocations are <br />included in the Memorial Park item on this same agenda. <br />Splash Pads <br />The City’s original budget for six splash pads was $9.1 million, to be funded by the <br />Cannabis Public Benefit Fund. After allocating budget to other projects, including Santa <br />Anita and Turf at the Dan Young Sports Complex projects, and spending for splash pad <br />design, the remaining budget available for construction is $6 million. After receiving <br />bids, the estimated project cost for the Madison Park splash pad is $3.5 million. If the <br />City were to move forward with the Madison Park splash pad project, only $2.5 million <br />would remain for additional splash pad construction. At this time, staff recommends <br />placing the Madison Park splash pad project on hold, and instead using $3.2 million for <br />a splash pad and restrooms at Portola Park due to the lack of aquatic facilities in that <br />sector of the city. Staff would use the remaining $2.8 million splash pad budget to help <br />close the funding gap for the Memorial Park aquatic center as noted above. Due to high <br />construction costs, the City would deliver a splash pad at Memorial Park and one at <br />Portola Park. Funding alternatives for future splash pads include competitive urban heat <br />grants and future collections of developer fees for park acquisition and development. <br />Some budgeted park projects do not yet have City Council-awarded contracts. Funding <br />sources are limited and construction costs are high. Therefore, staff recommends a <br />prioritization of currently budgeted park projects that do not have awarded contracts. <br />Prioritization <br />Focusing on the budgeted projects that do not have contracts, staff assigned a <br />recommended priority based on highest need, most requests, and an even distribution <br />of new projects throughout the city. Staff recommends City Council review the <br />prioritization list and provide direction to staff for any desired changes.