SR 06:073 - Laserfiche WebLink

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council: BACKGROUND Kottinger Park is a 14.5-acre linear park located along Kottinger Drive from Cabernet Court east to Bernal Avenue. Kottinger Creek (aka Saint Mary's Creek), is the predominate natural feature that runs the length of the Park. The creek has been altered throughout the years with the construction of storm culverts, pedestrian crossings and check dams (flow control structures) to address park maintenance and bank erosion concerns. The park has remained relatively unchanged since its construction in the 1960's. In recent years, improvement projects have been undertaken to upgrade irrigation systems and pedestrian circulation within the park. A group of local residents, commonly referred to as "Friends of Kottinger Creek" (a grassroots citizen group), requested that the City Council study the project. Based on the results of the initial study, the City Council approved additional design work with two primary objectives; one was to restore the creek and allow the natural stream flow processes to occur, and the second was to maintain public access and the current uses of the park. In January, 2003, Requests for Qualifications were mailed out to fifteen engineering firms to develop concept plans and construction drawings for the creek restoration. Four firms responded, and two firms were interviewed by City staff and Friends of Kottinger Creek. On August 19, 2003, City Council awarded the consultant contract to Far West Restoration Engineering in the not-to-exceed amount of $125,655. Preliminary cost estimates prepared by Far West were in the amount of $400,000. Upon development of the Kottinger Master Plan, project costs were then projected to be $650,000. The Master Plan was submitted to the community, and to the City's Park and Recreation Commission for approval. During this phase, the scope of work was expanded to include consideration of two additional bridges. As construction and final plans were further defined, the final construction costs were estimated at $1.2 million. The increase in costs is attributed to expanded invasive species removal, the replacement as opposed to the rehabilitation of the existing irrigation system, additional bridges, and further defined quantities from detailed construction plans. In order to compensate for the increased costs, the plans have been designed to allow for the flexibility to remove project features, or to divide the project into two phases. Phase I would occur from Adams Way upstream (east) and Phase II would be downstream from Adams Way (west). Since September, 2003, City staff and Friends of Kottinger Creek have been working together to develop the concept and improvement plans. On April 29, 2004, the preliminary plan was presented to the public to explain the project concept and obtain community input. Overall, SR 06:073 Page 2 of6