Park facilities will cost more, take longer to complete than expected
By Daily Press staff
(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the city council with little or no discussion. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past).
By Daily Press staff
COUNCIL CHAMBERS — It’s going to cost City Hall $1 million more than expected to overhaul two local parks, thanks to a construction company’s failure to deliver on its contractual obligation.
The City Council is expected tonight to grant SKS Construction a $2.1 million contract to repair and replace facilities at Los Amigos and Memorial parks. Cohen Construction, Inc. — which was under contract for $1.4 million — had the job since last May, but has failed to produce what it agreed to with City Hall.
As a result, City Hall has to find additional money to finish the project — most likely from the coffers dedicated to other park improvements planned for the future.
The projects at Memorial and Los Amigos are 106 days behind schedule and only 17 percent done, city staff wrote in a memo to the City Council. Throughout construction, numerous safety issues arose, including public access to construction zones and heavy equipment, traffic hazards during loading and unloading, as well as mishandling of hazardous materials, city staff said. The work included demolishing structures at the parks and building new concession stands, announcer’s booths, restrooms and storage facilities.
City Hall’s problems with Cohen Construction began last fall when the city started to receive stop notice claims from subcontractors who had provided labor and materials on the project, and who claimed that they hadn’t been paid by the builder. City Hall also learned that Cohen Construction had allegedly violated the law by temporarily employing a subcontractor, J&J Plumbing, that was not listed on the original bid, city staff said.
As a result, City Hall in December served a notice of default to Cohen Construction, which allows 10 days for the company to rectify the situation. However, Cohen Construction failed to do that, city staff said.
Now that City Hall has to hire a new contractor, staff suggests that money previously allocated to “phase two” of the parks project be used to finish “phase one.” Parks that could have funding taken away include Hotchkiss, Stewart Street, Clover and Marine parks.
Time is of the essence to finish Memorial and Los Amigos because thousands of people use them and have come to rely on their amenities, city staff said.
Los Amigos sees more than 700 students from SMASH and John Muir Elementary schools for daily recess and physical-education classes throughout the year. And about 300 youth participate in Pony League baseball between March and June, city staff said.
At Memorial Park, more than 900 youth participate in Little League and Bobby Sox between March and June, as well as hundreds of spectators who use the facilities. On weekends between September and December, about 200 youth practice soccer at Memorial Park during the AYSO season. What’s more, about 180 adults on weeknights and 400 on weekends, use Memorial for city sports leagues. Santa Monica High School and St. Monica’s High School use Memorial Park for baseball practice.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 10, 2004. Read the original PDF.