Council to “Accept” Value Engineering Study

— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 12 July 2010 — Comments Off

The City Council will receive a presentation at tomorrow evening’s meeting — 7pm at City Hall — on the consultant’s value engineering study for the Intermodal Station project. The study highlighted a potential $10m in savings (16 percent of total project cost) if the design and materials for the track-side retaining wall were substantially downgraded. The study’s recommendations will be accepted later in the meeting as part of the consent calendar for the Redevelopment Agency.

The agenda only includes the executive summary of the study, which was also provided at the Transportation and Housing subcommittee meeting last Tuesday. The executive summary does not discuss the details included in the proposed design change for the wall. Assuming the informative presentation includes the necessary details, that would provide councilmembers less than two hours to consume the requisite information and make the costly decision, in addition to the other items on the agenda.

The informative presentation was added to the agenda following a query on the subject from the Planning Commission.

The complete agenda is available on the City’s website.

UPDATE — The change may, in fact, have no impact on the aesthetic character of the wall; it may be simply a structural issue. However, oversight is needed before implementing a $10m decision.