Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee Meeting – July 24, 2019
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Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee Meeting – July 24, 2019
The Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee met on July 24, 2019, with a full committee present including Vice Chair Ward, Councilmembers Kate and Moreno, along with city attorney, IBA, and mayor representatives. The meeting covered non-agenda public comments, consent agenda approval, and several discussion items including consultant contracting, parking district management, a lease amendment for a fire repair facility, capital improvement program streamlining, and a sidewalk update.
Consent Calendar
- The committee approved the meeting minutes from June 19, 2019, unanimously.
- Consent agenda items 1 and 2 were approved unanimously and forwarded to the full council with recommendation for approval. An updated staff report corrected item 2 to authorize a single agreement rather than multiple agreements.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Martha Welch commented on downtown sidewalk conditions, maintenance liability, and expressed support for a compromise on 30th Street that balances parking needs with bike infrastructure, urging consideration of business owners.
- Kathleen Higgins, representing the San Diego Municipal Employees Association (MEA), expressed 100% opposition to the proposed five-year consulting contracts for land surveying, arguing that the city has a recruitment and retention crisis with 20 vacancies and that the work should be done by city employees. She proposed moving up a special salary adjustment and called for a solution to the crisis.
Discussion Items
1. Six As-Needed Land Surveying Consultant Agreements (Item 3)
- Alex Garcia (Public Works) presented a request to authorize six as-needed agreements for surveying, mapping, and digitizing services, with a $1,000 minimum guarantee per firm and up to $5 million per agreement over five years. The prior three contracts (2016) had nearly reached capacity after issuing 93 tasks, with workload increasing 2.5 times since 2015. The city has 20 vacancies among 72 survey positions.
- Vice Chair Ward opposed the five-year, $30 million commitment, arguing it funds base workload rather than peak workload, and urged investing in city staff instead. He suggested a six- or twelve-month interim solution.
- Councilmember Kate moved to forward the item to city council without recommendation, allowing flexibility to negotiate shorter duration or reduced scope. The motion was seconded by the chair.
- The motion passed 2-2, with the chair exercising discretion to forward the item to full council. Councilmember Moreno opposed forwarding without recommendation, wanting to hold the item for further discussion.
2. Downtown Community Parking District FY20 Annual Plan and Budget, and Management Transition (Item 4)
- Elizabeth Studebaker and Tanner French (Economic Development) presented the FY20 plan for the downtown parking district, which includes transition of management from Civic San Diego to the city. The plan allocates $10 million to the East Village Green parking structure and supports mobility projects, including the Fred (Circuit) shuttle. Revenue and performance metrics were shown.
- Vice Chair Ward noted a revenue discrepancy in the summary and requested follow-up. He also raised concerns about Fred shuttle utilization and suggested considering a fixed route, dynamic pricing, and better geographic distribution of benefits.
- The committee unanimously approved forwarding the staff recommendation to full council.
3. Second Amendment to Kearny Mesa Repair Facility Lease (Othello Avenue) (Item 5)
- Karen Johnson (Real Estate Assets), Brad Hawthorne (Fleet Operations), and James Nagelboard (Public Works) presented the request to extend the lease term from 10 to 15 years (with an additional five-year renewal option) and authorize $811,000 for design of the fire rescue repair facility. The current Miramar facility has 17 working bays for 60 technicians, causing congestion and inefficiency. The new site will provide 24 working bays, improving the bay-to-technician ratio to industry standard.
- IBA representative Jillian Cassie noted the project is unique (city does not own property) and recommended council consider a status update before the proposed budget's release.
- Councilmember Kate emphasized the importance of the facility and supported the motion. Vice Chair Ward seconded and asked about future use of buildings B and C on the site.
- The committee unanimously approved the staff recommendation to forward to city council.
4. 2019 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Streamlining Recommendations (Item 6) – Informational
- James Nagelboard and Mark Nosser (Public Works) presented a series of streamlining proposals, including increasing mayoral authority for consultant contracts (from $1M to $5M), eliminating the cumulative contract provision, raising change order authority, increasing sheltered competition limits for small businesses, and updating council policies on transparency and prioritization. They also proposed bulk purchasing of materials, raising insurance requirements, and improving project closeout times.
- Vice Chair Ward requested monthly CIP updates, push notifications for project changes, and enhanced customer service contractor evaluations. Councilmember Moreno expressed hesitation about reducing council authority and transparency. Councilmember Kate supported streamlining but emphasized balancing small business participation and front-end budget scrutiny.
- The item was informational; no vote was taken. Staff will return in October with proposed code and policy changes.
5. Citywide Sidewalk Program Update (Item 7) – Informational
- Chris McFadden, Christy Reeser, and Craig Honus (Transportation & Stormwater) provided an update on sidewalk repairs. Since the 2015 condition assessment, the city has repaired 25,000 locations via slicing, 2,000 via replacement, and ramps 2,000 locations annually. The current backlog is 81,000 defects, with estimated cost of $90–$100 million. Four types of repairs exist: asphalt ramping, slicing ($66 per location average), replacement, and the 50-50 cost-share program (average participant cost $4,500). The slicing contract spends $600,000 annually.
- Vice Chair Ward requested data on liability payouts vs. repair investment, and suggested reducing permit fees (currently $1,900) and exploring a lien-based program like San Francisco’s. Councilmember Kate asked about average repair costs, the 50-50 program wait times (now up to nine months), and the possibility of using a qualified vendor list or self-certification to streamline private repairs. Chair Kercy urged reducing permit fees for private sidewalk repairs and requested an analysis of the cost to clear the backlog over five- and ten-year timelines, as well as a report on liability recovery from property owners.
- The item was informational; no vote was taken. Staff committed to follow up on several requests.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda: Items 1 and 2 forwarded to full council with recommendation for approval (unanimous).
- Land Surveying Consultants: Forwarded to full council without recommendation (2-2 vote, chair discretion). Council opposed the five-year term but supported short-term contracting.
- Downtown Parking District: Forwarded to full council with recommendation for approval (unanimous).
- Kearny Mesa Lease Amendment: Forwarded to full council with recommendation for approval (unanimous).
- CIP Streamlining: Informational; staff to bring proposed code and policy changes to the October committee meeting.
- Sidewalk Update: Informational; staff will provide data on liability costs, permit fee adjustments, and backlog analysis for future committee discussion.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon, everybody. Want to thank you for joining us for today's meeting of the Active Transportation Infrastructure Committee. Today is Wednesday, July twenty-fourth, twenty nineteen. Let the record reflect that we have a full committee with us today, including Vice Chair Ward, Councilmember's Kate and Moreno. We also have our City Attorney Representative Tina Ray, our IBA representative Jillian Cassie, our mayor representative Lee Friedman, and our committee consultant Justin Garber. I want to get started with non-agenda public comments. And we do have one, Martha Welch, please come forward. So who takes care of that? Who uh doesn't they build themselves they're all sometimes they're rocks or mint or brick or it's all differently. So how can you say who will who sidewalk who who's uh liable for falls and everything because they're all differently, and sometimes they're not they're they're not very good, also because sometimes they they pop up and um they have um makes cracks and everything like that's dangerous, maybe fall and stuff like that. So um that's not right. What you do here is the sidewalks downtown because they don't match, and who's reliable for that also? And 30 street, I like plan B also because I think parking is a problem. Um bikes are good also, but there's not there's more cars and bikes, so we have to have a compromise on 30 st on 30 street. I think that's um the best plan to have some parking for um that right now because you've got to listen to the owners also because it's not as it hurts their business with no parking also. So you've got to have a compromise on 30 street thank you. That concludes non-agenda. We'll turn to committee comment. Do we have any members of the committee like to say anything? No. All right, we'll turn to city attorney IBA Merrill Staff comment. Seeing none. Uh we have our adoption agenda, our meeting minutes from our June 19th, 2019 meeting uh have been distributed. I would accept a motion uh and second on their approval. We got a motion by councilmember Kate, seconded by Vice Chair Ward. All in favor, please say aye. That carries unanimously, thank you. We have two items on our consent agenda today. Uh I would like to make a note that an updated staff report has been distributed for item number two, uh, and that clarifies that the proposed actions only authorize the described agreement, not quote one or more agreements and our amendments uh as was originally stated in the original report. Uh so with that being the case, I would be willing to entertain a motion on the consent agenda. So moved by council member Kate, or I guess Vice Chair War, second ward seconded by Councilmember Kate. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. And that carries unanimously. Thank you very much. That will forward items one and two to the full council with recommendation for approval. Uh we'll now move to our discussion agenda. Uh which our first item is a presentation by public works regarding six as needed land surveying consultant agreements. Thank you for being here today. How much time would you like for the presentation? Uh about five minutes. Okay, please introduce yourself for the record and proceed. Good afternoon. My name is Alex Garcia, deputy director with public works. And I am um let me did I pull it up right now. Okay, thanks. Okay, thanks. So I am here today to um ask um authorization to uh to award six as needed contracts for uh survey uh services. Um there you go. Uh the selected firms are uh Towel, Inc., Michael Baker International, Alta Land Surveying, Ode Consultants, T Sec Engineering, and NV5 Global.
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