PLANNING, BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

Quality Services for a Quality Community

MEMORANDUM
TO: FROM: CC: DATE:
City of East Lansing PLANNING , BUILDING & DEVELOPMENT 410 Abbot Road East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 319-6930
www.cityofeastlansing.com

George Lahanas, City Manager Lori Mullins, Community & Economic Development Administrator Tim Dempsey, Director of Planning, Building and Development July 3, 2013 Ann Street Plaza Construction

SUBJECT:

As you are aware, multiple departments have been working together to prepare for the completion of the Ann Street Plaza construction. Below, is an outline of the items that will need to be discussed and approved by City Council in order to commence construction. The FY2014 budget will need to be amended to account for the project. Staff would request that the City Council authorize the City Manager to approve a budget amendment of up to $197,000 from General Fund reserves to be paid back over four years from the projects TIF capture. The cost of this project has increased since our last discussion with City Council. When this project was discussed at the work session on June 25th staff had just received a preliminary proposal for the work and it did not include all of the work items necessary to complete the job. Staff has also added the costs for engineering and testing, landscaping, site furnishings (such as bike racks and bollards) and a 5% contingency to get to the total cost of completion presented here. This is a number that staff has discussed and is confident with. All of the costs are included in the attached documents. The overall cost of the plaza reconstruction was originally estimated at $425,000. Mr. Elliott has spent approximately $200,000 on the plaza to date and the estimate to complete the work is $197,000.00, therefore the overall cost of the project has not increased. Staff anticipates that the developer will contribute some portion of the funds back to the project this year in cash and that we will capture the remaining funds within four years. We will have a more definitive outline of that agreement to share with the Council at the meeting on Tuesday. Attached to the development agreement is the Conceptual Plan for the Plaza (Exhibit B-1) and the Preliminary Construction Drawing (Exhibit B-2). After additional discussions with the property owners and the business owners in the plaza, Mr. Elliot, with staff support, had decided that it was necessary to revise the plans to eliminate the planters and trees separating the store front area from the center of the plaza. It is staffs understanding that El Azteco and Sultans will both be requesting licenses for outdoor dining upon completion of the plaza work. The outdoor dining spaces will fill the area along the storefronts, and be

PLANNING, BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

Quality Services for a Quality Community

directly adjacent to the plaza. Elimination of those planters allows for more flexible plaza space. Attached is the latest construction drawings completed by the Citys Engineering Department. You will note that the landscape areas around the stage are larger, the stage has a tensile fabric cover, and the tuned drums are adjacent to the stage. Staff would request that the City Council approve these drawings as the Revised Exhibit B-2. One of the critical engineering and design issues that must be addressed is drainage of the plaza space. The plaza itself is very flat and in order to avoid any standing water on the finished concrete, the grading plan has been given exceptional attention. Staff believes that it is very important to move forward with same contractor who began the work last year. They have done an exceptional job thus far and by using the same contractor we are much less likely to have problems related to accountability when matching the existing grades. We have reviewed the proposal provided by E. T. Mackenzie and believe that it includes fair pricing based upon costs of work performed last year on this project and on the infrastructure project which they also constructed. Therefore, staff is requesting that the City Council authorize the City Manager to enter into a contract with E.T. Mackenzie Company in the amount of $167,885.15 based on their proposal dated July 2, 2013. We would also request that the City Manager be authorized to approve change orders on this contract up to 5 percent of the contract cost or $8,394. The Board of Water and Light and the contractor are prepared to begin construction on July 15. The lights will be replaced and the stage construction would start that week. The following week the stage construction would continue and the concrete in front of the businesses would be replaced in small sections starting early in the morning in order to minimize the disruption to the businesses. The project would be substantially complete by the middle of August, at which time the landscaping would be installed. We hope to have all of the work completed and ready for full use by the end of August. Ann Street Plazas design and construction has been discussed previously at the meetings shown below: At its January 10, 2012 work session, City Council discussed the conceptual plans for the plaza. At its January 17, 2012 meeting, City Council approved Exhibit B-1. At its June 12, 2012 meeting, City Council approved Exhibit B-2. Finally, to summarize this memo, at City Councils July 9, 2013 meeting, Staff is requesting that the City Council take action on the following requests. Authorize the City Manager to approve a budget amendment in the amount of $197,000.00 from the General Fund reserves for the completion of the Ann Street Plaza reconstruction. Approve revised Exhibit B-2. Authorize the City Manager to approve a contract with E.T. MacKenzie in the amount of $167,885.15 and any related change orders up to $8,394.00. Please let me know what additional information may be needed.