Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF FUNDING FOR PURCHASE OF SAND, GRAVEL AND ASPHALT FOR MAINTENANCE OF LOMITA BOULEVARD AND ADOPTING RESOLUTION NO. 22-012 "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF CARSON CITY COUNCIL AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-22 BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF $250,000 IN THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET"
Body
I. SUMMARY
The existing roadway pavement of Lomita Boulevard, east of Wilmington Avenue, is in extremely poor condition with numerous cracks, rutting, and huge potholes and is posing health and safety hazards; the roadway needs immediate maintenance work. The City Council is being asked to approve funding for purchase of sand, gravel, and asphalt on an emergency basis, in the amount of $250,000, to allow staff to proceed with the maintenance services for Lomita Boulevard. The City Manager has waived the contract requirement.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. WAIVE the bidding requirements of the Carson Municipal Code (CMC) pursuant to Carson Municipal Code Section 2611(d) (emergency purchasing);
2. ADOPT Resolution No. 22-012 “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF CARSON CITY COUNCIL AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2021-22 BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF $250,000 IN THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET"
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate.
IV. BACKGROUND
Lomita Boulevard between Wilmington Avenue and Alameda Street is a substandard two-lane road that runs along the boundary between the City of Los Angeles and the City of Carson; it is partially paved with substandard pavement. Lomita Boulevard provides access to industrial properties on the south side of the roadway (in the City of Los Angeles) while Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has railroad tracks that run adjacent to Lomita Boulevard on the north side of the roadway. This roadway segment is approximately 6,400 feet in length. The east end of Lomita Boulevard is located adjacent but does not legally connect to the Alameda Corridor, which is a major rail- and highway corridor that provides access to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The existing pavement condition of Lomita Boulevard is extremely poor with numerous cracks, rutting, and huge potholes from the recent rain which requires immediate maintenance work to address public health and safety concern. The City has received an increasing number of calls from the residents voicing their concerns about the current pavement conditions. As a result of the rapid deterioration, the City has incurred increased maintenance costs of this street. Furthermore, the current road conditions have worsened with the higher-than-normal amount of rainfall received this year.
The jurisdiction for Lomita Boulevard is City of Carson north of centerline and City of Los Angeles south of centerline. However, most of the street south of the centerline is not paved at all, meaning that all the traffic travels along the Carson section though the traffic serves the land uses in the City of LA almost exclusively. The City continues to maintain the current roadway surface by constantly patching/restriping as resources allow. With the heavy truck usage, the roadway continues to degrade/deteriorate and the costs to provide temporary maintenance increases as well.
Staff recommends continuing to patch the roadway to address the health and safety concern at this time. This recommended maintenance is greatly needed because the existing conditions on Lomita Boulevard are not conducive to safe and efficient vehicular or pedestrian travel. What is being recommended is only for a few locations. It should be noted that the recommended maintenance is only temporary since the roadway surface slowly gets washed out each time heavy rain occurs due to lack of proper drainage. As most of the private properties on the south side of Lomita Boulevard are at a higher elevation than the roadway, sheets of water flow across the roadway surface during rain events and flow onto the railroad property. This water activity combined with the presence of heavy truck traffic results in roadway damage that is continually in a state of disrepair even though periodic roadway maintenance is implemented.
For this street to be properly maintained, both the City of LA and the City of Carson need to participate. A Federal TIGER grant application was submitted several years ago which included the City of LA and City of Carson and the estimated costs then were $65M. Based on the evaluation, the roadway requires complete removal and replacement of the asphalt, installation of compacted subgrade, new striping, drainage improvements, and shoulder remediation. A comprehensive roadway improvement project will be necessary to rectify these substandard conditions by providing a properly designed roadway with good drainage, a storm drain, and a substantial subgrade, base, and pavement section that could properly accommodate the heavy truck loads on this industrial street. A project of this magnitude will necessitate extensive study for ultimate widening including railroad crossing upgrades and a permanent connection to Alameda Street.
The comprehensive roadway improvement project has challenges associated due to the corridor located in two jurisdictions (City of LA and City of Carson), the absence of available right-of-way, and the high cost of implementing an improvement project. Now, based on new regulations and code requirements, the total upgrade is estimated to be approximately $100M. Staff is working collaboratively with the City of LA on how to complete the design of the roadway which requires significant amount of right of way dedication from private property owners on the City of Los Angeles side to get this corridor fixed permanently. Staff is also waiting on any grant opportunity that may be available in the future.
In this report, even though the City Manager is permitted to make the requested emergency purchase under Section 2611(d)(1) of the Carson Municipal Code, staff is requesting the City Council to approve funding for purchase of sand, gravel, and asphalt (“Materials”) in the amount of $250,000 to allow staff to immediately proceed with such purchase so that maintenance services for Lomita Boulevard can be performed on an emergency basis. Under City’s emergency procurement regulations, City is not required to go out to bid for procurement of the Materials under the circumstances. Staff would perform such emergency maintenance work directly.
City Manager has waived the contract requirement under CMC 2605(b)(ii), which requires a contract for purchases of any personal property, including materials, supplies and equipment $25,000 or greater over a fiscal year unless the Purchasing Manager (City Manager) shall waive this contract requirement.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
Funds for this project were not included in the FY 2021/22 budget; therefore, if the funding is awarded, the budget will need to be increased by $250,000.00. Funds should be appropriated from the unreserved, undesignated general fund balance to account no. 101-80-840-281-6009.
VI. EXHIBITS
Resolution No. 22-012 (Pgs. 3-4)
Prepared by: Veronica Rodriguez, Right of Way Superintendent and Gilbert Marquez, PE, Principal/City Engineer