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HomeMy WebLinkAbout21 - Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement RecommendationCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH City Council Staff Report TO: FROM: PREPARED BY: PHONE: TITLE: ABSTRACT: June 28, 2022 Agenda Item No. 21 HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL David A. Webb, Public Works Director - 949-644-3311, dawebb@newportbeachca.gov John Salazar, Public Works Superintendent, jsalazar@newportbeachca.gov 949-718-3460 Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement Recommendation Balboa Island currently has an inventory of 111 wood benches (58 teak and 53 jatoba). All of these wood benches were donated to the City of Newport Beach (City) during the past 26 years. Over the years, the ongoing community requests and expectations, as well as the necessary resources and funding needed to maintain the wood benches in a finished state, has become an issue of concern for City staff. At the January 28, 2020 City Council meeting, staff was directed to work with the Parks, Beaches and Recreation (PB&R) Commission to find a low maintenance alternative bench to replace the current teak wood benches on the perimeter of Balboa Island. Staff is now returning for City Council review and approval of the recommendations made by the PB&R Commission regarding replacement of the existing perimeter teak benches on Balboa Island with unfinished jatoba wood benches. RECOMMENDATION: a) Determine this action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines because this action will not result in a physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly; and b) Review and approve the following Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission recommendations for replacing the existing teak wood benches on Balboa Island: Remove the teak wood benches in two or three phases (depending on their current state of repair) over the next couple of years and replace them with City purchased, unfinished jatoba wood benches, on the condition the new benches will never be refinished, but rather remain in a natural state and be allowed to grey with age, Provide Public Works staff flexibility to explore and work with the Balboa Island community on the possibility of reducing the amount of benches, if appropriate, during the replacement of the teak wood benches, 21-1 Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement Recommendation June 28, 2022 Page 2 iii. Direct staff to follow City Council Policy B-17 (Parks, Facilities and Recreation Program Donations), no existing nor new donor plaques will be permitted on the replacement benches, and iv. Direct staff to use its best, reasonable efforts to contact the original teak wood bench donors to offer the opportunity to receive the donated bench and/or plaque (arrangements for any off -island pick-up/shipping will be the responsibility of the accepting party). If donors cannot be reasonably located or are uninterested in having the donated item returned to them, staff will explore options to have benches either donated to the Balboa Island Museum (for display, fund raising effort/sale, etc.), auctioned off through a public surplus auction, or finally, just disposed of. DISCUSSION: In January 1996, at the request of the Balboa Island Improvement Association (BIIA), the PB&R Commission approved the use of teak wood benches on Balboa Island with the condition that the BIIA would take ownership of the future maintenance of the benches. In June 1996, City Council Policy G-5 (Park and Street Improvement Donations) was amended, allowing teak benches on Balboa Island along the Bay Front boardwalk or path. On May 9, 2006, the City Council updated the City's donation policy, combining Policies G-5 and B-17 into a revised, Council Policy B-17. This update clarified that the maintenance of future donated items would become the City's responsibility. At the time, the City had a fully functional wood shop with fulltime carpenters on staff. The department director had requested that City staff take on the maintenance of the benches on Balboa Island. City staff repaired, sanded, cleaned and refinished the benches on an annual basis, and sometimes sooner, when requested. At the time, the estimated cost to refinish a bench using City staff was approximately $400 per bench. Since then, the City has seen a notable increase in service requests from residents to refinish the benches on a more frequent basis. In 2012, the City revised how some services were provided and reduced its in-house workforce, by outsourcing various maintenance services. The carpenter and wood shop function of the Facilities Maintenance section were among the in-house services eliminated and moved to competitive contracts. Since that time, staff has seen an increase in contracting rates for various maintenance services including construction trades such as carpentry and refinishing. Furthermore, with current competitive bidding requirements, prevailing wage, and insurance and bonding requirements, there has been a continual increase in costs, as well as limited bid responses in some circumstances. In 2019, after extensive review and discussion, PB&R provided recommended changes to Council Policy B-17 to the City Council, which included changing which type of benches may be donated. Four sustainable bench options were recommended, with wood benches no longer being one of the options. The City Council approved the recommended changes to Council Policy B-17 at its September 10, 2019 meeting. These changes however, only applied to new bench donations and did not review or address the high cost of maintaining the current 111 jatoba and teak benches and the 26 jatoba trash cans already on Balboa Island. 21-2 Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement Recommendation June 28, 2022 Page 3 These changes however, only applied to new bench donations and did not review or address the high cost of maintaining the current 111 jatoba and teak benches and the 26 jatoba trash cans already on Balboa Island. In order to maintain the expected level of service for the wood benches and trash cans on Balboa Island, staff advertised and requested formal bids. After two unsuccessful bidding advertisements, on September 26, 2019, the City received one proposal from Emilio Ramirez dba RAMCO General Engineering Contractors (RAMCO). Staff brought this contract forward to the City Council for approval on January 28, 2020, for a one-time refinishing of all wood benches and trash cans on the Island at $148,000. Given that a full refurbishment had not been done in several years, the high frequency of citizen requests for additional refinishing, and that some level of maintenance is expected based on past practices, staff recommended that the City Council award a contract to RAMCO to perform one complete repair and refinish effort on all the existing wood benches and trash cans on Balboa Island. Further, given the high cost to maintain the wood benches and trash cans, staff requested City Council direction as to the level of maintenance that should be continued and budgeted for, or if an alternative course should be taken. Due to the exorbitant refinishing cost and the determination that this practice is un- sustainable, City Council requested that the PB&R Commission review and consider the four artificial (i.e., non -wood) benches contained in Council Policy B-17, or an acceptable alternative, to replace the aging teak benches along the perimeter of Balboa Island. Additionally, as part of this endeavor, staff worked on options to continue to reasonably refurbish the existing Marine Avenue jatoba benches and has agreed to handle these 54 benches as a separate item. At the August 3, 2021 PB&R meeting, the Balboa Island Bench Ad Hoc Committee was formed and included Commissioners Daruty, Granoff and Hayes. They were responsible for reviewing cost effective options for replacing the aging teak benches along the perimeter of Balboa Island and in Balboa Island park. The Ad Hoc Committee met six times between August 2021 and March 2022. They also collaborated with the Balboa Island associations, which included the BIIA, Balboa Island Merchant Association, Little Island HOA and the Balboa Island Preservation Association. On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the Ad Hoc Committee members, City staff, and representatives from the Balboa Island groups met at the City Corporation Yard to discuss replacement of the existing teak benches. Staff shared a presentation on the teak benches and facilitated a discussion on their replacement. After a lengthy discussion, as well as a physical review of several potential replacement bench types, all the Balboa Island groups requested, and the Ad Hoc Committee members agreed, to provide three bench options for consideration and include the jatoba bench as one of the options to be considered as the replacement type on the condition it would never be refinished but instead be allowed to grey with age. They decided on a plan to notify the Balboa Island community of the three replacement options under consideration, as well as allowing another write-in option to be considered, and a process 21-3 Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement Recommendation June 28, 2022 Page 4 for allowing Balboa Island residents and property owners to vote for their preferred type of replacement bench. Staff worked with members of the Ad Hoc Committee and the Balboa Island groups to develop the public information materials for bench replacement and the bench preference survey. In January 2022, the ballot was finalized and mailed to all Balboa Island residents and property owners. Additionally, actual bench samples of the three preferred options were placed outside of the Beek Community Center in Balboa Island Park for resident viewing. A public meeting was held at the Balboa Island Fire Station on February 12, 2022, to discuss replacing the teak benches. Completed resident ballots were due back to the City by the end of February 2022. Staff received and tabulated 1,188 ballots and found 68% (811 ballots) voted for the unfinished jatoba bench as the replacement bench. With this Island -wide vote, PB&R recommends the replacement of the existing 58 teak wood benches with unfinished jatoba benches. PB&R also believes the best option for disposal of the existing Teak Wood benches would be to offer first right of refusal to the original donor or family. Should Council concur with this direction, staff will use its best reasonable efforts to contact the original teak wood bench donors to offer them the opportunity to receive the donated bench and/or plaque. The PB&R Commission also recommended that if some of the original donors are unreachable or do not want the teak benches or plaques, staff should explore the possibility of donating those remaining teak wood benches to the Balboa Island Museum for display and or to sell/auction off as a possible fundraiser. After that option is exhausted, staff will dispose of any remaining benches At its June 7, 2022 meeting, the PB&R Commission approved the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation for the jatoba wood bench as a replacement for the teak wood benches, provided they remain in an unfinished condition. PB&R also encouraged Public Works staff to expedite the removal and replacement process of the teak benches with jatoba benches, and to not adhere to the 20% to 30% phased removal as originally suggested by the Ad Hoc committee. The Commission also expressed that there should also be some flexibility for staff to consider a reduction in the number of benches replaced at some street ends and in the park. The jatoba wood bench is comparable to the cost of the other benches listed in the B-17 policy. Staff recently received a quote for the purchase of 60 (six foot) jatoba benches and it totaled $97,475 (or approximately $1,624 each) from DM Braun & Company. Receiving the benches may take six to nine months, depending on availability. FISCAL IMPACT: The current adopted budget should include sufficient funding over two to three years for this phased -in purchase. The cost will be expensed to the Field Maintenance Special Department Supplies account in the Public Works Department, 0108061-841015. 21-4 Balboa Island Teak Wood Bench Replacement Recommendation June 28, 2022 Page 5 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). ATTACHMENTS: None 21-5