For City Council Meeting July 25, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Arron Brown, Acting City Manager
FROM: Colby Cataldi, Community Development Director
Title
Request City Council to approve the Permitting Services One Stop project in concept and authorize staff to initiate conceptual architectural, space programming and floor plan design with BOA Architecture in the amount of $18,300.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND
On August 29, 2022, the first meeting between Community Development, Engineering, Maintenance and Facilities, and Fire Department staff occurred on-site at 131 and 141 S. Riverside Ave. The agenda of the meeting was to assess the site, the buildings layout and consider prospects for functionality of floor space. Subsequent meetings between departments continued in September and October to further assess operational needs for a One Stop customer service center and to analyze the specific requirements of each department including cross-departmental workflows. At this stage a conceptual floor plan was developed and agreed upon by all department leadership.
On December 6, 2022, department staff conducted a site visit with Mr. Edward Lok Ng of BOA Architecture, an architectural firm currently on contract with the City to provide on-call services. This meeting was to assess the buildings and proposed concept. On December 11, 2022, Mr. Ng provided an estimate for architectural design services in the amount of $18,300 to prepare value engineered schematic floor plan design options.
On April 25, 2023, Community Development and Facilities staff met the architect onsite to conduct a final assessment of the building condition and scope of work for the renovation project. The cost estimate for the 5,266 square feet building renovation is estimated at $1,738,000. The development site affords the City an opportunity to evaluate the viability of a 1,046 square foot expansion for a total of 6,312 square feet, which, if pursued by Council, may add an estimated $627,600 to the project cost for a total of $2,365,600. It is prudent to evaluate this expansion option as the One Stop project does intend to collocate all city staff that have a role in the land development and permitting process, which includes Engineering and Fire staff. The evaluation of expansion space is merely part of the process for staff to provide Council the best information when considering the various options. Staff has not determined if such expansion space is necessary at this time.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
This project scope is to fully renovate and combine two vacant City owned buildings, 131 and 141 S. Riverside Avenue, located adjacent to one another. The purpose of this renovation is to improve services offered by Community Development, Engineering and Fire Department by collocating staff that provide land development services from three separate buildings into a One Stop customer service center. These services include land use planning/zoning, permitting, engineering, subdivision, environmental planning, plan-check review, inspections (building and fire), business licensing and cashiering. Collocating these services in one service center will provide Rialto residents, businesses, architect and engineering firms, contractors, brokers and property managers one location to receive services. The One Stop initiative aides in the modernization of business operations which will improve customer services by streamlining interdepartmental workflows and collocating personnel resources in one center for the customer.
Overall, the One Stop will be of greater convenience and save time for Rialto residents and businesses by removing physical barriers and collocating City resources into one location. Staff’s productivity is anticipated to increase as interdepartmental business processes will be organized and better coordinated. Lastly, professional architectural and engineering firms, real estate brokers, development consultants in the land development community will benefit by being able to transact their business with all pertinent city staff at one location.
Upon completion of the preliminary design, staff will provide Council for consideration a project update with options and recommendations regarding project design and scope, funding, design services contract and project budget.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This action is exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15378(b)(5) of the CEQA Guidelines because the preparation of a budget plan is a governmental administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
General Plan Guiding Principle 3 - Rialto’s Economic Environment is Healthy and Diverse - specifically our City Government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens is a good place to do business.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed and recommends approval of this staff report.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funding for the Conceptual Architectural, space programming and floor plan design with BOA Architecture in the amount of $18,300 is available in General Fund account number 10101148-52012.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve the Permitting Services One Stop project in concept; and
2. Authorize staff to initiate conceptual architectural, space programming and floor plan design with BOA Architecture, from the City’s “on-call” vendor list, in the amount of $18,300.