HomeMy WebLinkAbout0012_1_La Laguna Renov Project - Engineering Resources - SRREPORT TO CITY COUNCIL
To:Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From:Grant Yates, City Manager
Prepared by:Jason Simpson, Director of Administrative Services
Date:May 31, 2016
Subject:Implementation of Development Under the Lake Elsinore Recreation Area
General Plan/Environmental Impact Report for the La Laguna RV Resort
Rehabilitation Project; Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Professional
Services Agreement between the City and Engineering Resources of Southern
California Inc.,for Civil Engineering Services for the La Laguna RV Resort
Rehabilitation Project.
Recommendations
1.Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute the professional services agreement
in the amount $182,820 with Engineering Resources of Southern California Inc.; and
2.Adopt Resolution No. 2016-___ –A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake
Elsinore, California Finding the La Laguna Resort Rehabilitation Project Is Consistent with
the Lake Elsinore Recreation Area General Plan and the State of California Quitclaim
Deed.
Background
On April 12, 2016,the City Council authorized the approval of a professional services agreement
with STK Inc. (architectural services),for the design and construction documents phase of the La
Laguna Resort Rehabilitation Project.
The implementation of those services coupled with the professional services agreement before
the City Council tonight, and the significant progress with respect to funding,has led staff to
conclude that the City is proceeding on a definite course of action. While additional approvals will
be necessary before the physical renovation begins, the California Environmental Quality Act
(Public Resources Code § 21000, et seq.: “CEQA”) encourages public agencies to address
environmental compliance early in the development process.
The La Laguna Resort Rehabilitation Project (the “Project”) will provide for renovation of the
overnight camping facilities of the La Laguna Resort with improved camp sites for recreational
vehicles, road improvement, park site security access, camp site utilities improvements, drought
tolerant landscape improvements, rehabilitation of existing restrooms, shower and laundry
facilities. The site entry way access will be improved and widened to provide for greater vehicle
La Laguna Resort Renovation
May 31, 2016
Page 2
control, thoroughfare and sidewalk access for pedestrian safety. The entire site will be upgraded
for compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements. The actual site acreage will
remain at 85 acers and will include secured recreational vehicle parking. The Project
contemplates a clubhouse will be constructed with a square footage of approximately 3,000
square feet. The Project also contemplates approximately 236 campsites.
The Project finds its genesis in the 1984 Lake Elsinore Recreation Area General Plan (“LERA
GP/EIR”), a document that, in accordance with Public Resources Code Section 5002.2,
constitutes the environmental impact report for the Lake Elsinore Recreation Area (“LERA”) and
includes the La Laguna Resort as well as the Seaport Boat Launch and a large portion of the
Lake itself. (Public Resources Code Section 5002.2 requires the preparation of a general plan or
appropriate revisions to such a plan prior to the development of any new facilities at a State park.)
In 1992, the California Legislature enacted Section 14670.67 of the Government Code authorizing
the State’s Director of General Services to convey the LERA to the City, and in 1994, the State
Lands Commission conveyed the LERA to the City by Quitclaim Deed. Section 14670.67 section
provides that the “property be used for public park and recreation purposes in perpetuity and that
park and recreation improvements conform to the Lake Elsinore State Recreation Area General
Plan adopted pursuant to Section 5002.2 of the Public Resources Code. . . .” (Emphasis added.)
Thus, the City became the “lead agency” under CEQA for implementing development under the
LERA GP/EIR.
Discussion
The LERA GP/EIR includes an “Environmental Impact Element” which constitutes the more
familiar “environmental impact report” or “EIR” terminology used in CEQA. As provided in the
LERA GP/EIR, “this General Plan (with this Environmental Impact Element) constitutes a report
on the project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act. The plan indicates
management policies and development plans for the Lake Elsinore State Recreation Area. The
Draft Environmental Impact Element (or Environmental Impact Report) analyzes and reports
potential impacts of these policies and plans on the environment.”
The LERA GP/EIR specifically addressed significant renovations of the facilities formerly known
as the “Riverside Drive Campground” and now called the La Laguna Resort. The LERA GP/EIR
provided that “Overnight facilities here will include about 500 family campsites” along with
amenities like “comfort stations” and a “camp store” and goes on to state that the “development
cost will be primarily in the form of refurbishment, reconstruction, or replacement of damaged or
run-down facilities, and additional campsites.”
CEQA bars a lead agency from preparing a subsequent or supplemental EIR for a project unless
one or more of three specific events occur. Staff has analyzed the Project in relation to the LERA
GP/EIR and concluded that none of those three specified events has occurred. For example,
whereas the “Riverside Drive Campground” analyzed in the LERA GP/EIR assumed the
development of up to 500 campsites, the Project contemplates less than half that. Staff also
concluded that an addendum to the LERA GP/EIR was not needed.
Accordingly, the Project – that is, the renovation of the La Laguna Resort -- is consistent with
LERA GP/EIR and such renovation was analyzed and mitigated in it. Additionally, the Project is
also consistent with the State’s mandate that the LERA be used for public park and recreation
purposes.
La Laguna Resort Renovation
May 31, 2016
Page 3
Turning to the City Council’s consideration of the professional services agreement, these services
are standard civil engineering services for the site development of the Project and will include the
needed civil engineering construction documentation to effect the complete site development.
Key tasks include the following:
Record Data on Utilities Research Topography & Boundary Survey
Base Map Development Plan Pre Design
Grading & Erosion Control Plans Street Improvement Plans
Traffic Signal Plans Construction Documents
Hydrology Study Water Quality Management Plan
Grading Specifications Cost Estimates
Coordination and Meetings
Preliminary civil engineering service cost estimates were believed to be at $250,000. Staff’s initial
research narrowed the interviewed process down to two top notch civil engineering firms
(Engineering Resources and BergerABAM). During the interview phase the deliberate outcome
was to ensure a complete understanding of the required and needed services, identification of
assumptions, understanding and experience with recreational vehicle park functionality and
amenities, and civil engineering cost proposals. Both proposals were negotiated to within $10,000
of each other, significantly below the $250,000 estimate. At the final decision point the determining
factors favored Engineering Resources.
FISCAL IMPACT
The civil engineering service fee is set at $182,820.00. Additional professional engineering
services (Electrical, Mechanical, Geotechnical, and Structural) will be negotiated and contracted
by staff in separate actions. The services will be funded with development impact fees on hand.
Staff will return when construction documents are ready to be released for bid, which is expected
to occur late summer.
Exhibits
A - Professional Services Agreement
B – Proposal
C – Resolution