Council to Consider Freeway Soundwall Agreements as Part of Monday’s Consent Calendar

As part of Monday’s consent calendar, the City Council will consider allowing the City Manager to execute two agreements with California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), for maintenance responsibilities within Caltrans’ and City’s rights-of-way respectively for proposed soundwalls at various locations along the 210 freeway between Fair Oaks and Wilson avenues.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Countywide Retrofit Soundwall Program, Package 10 project, includes construction of prioritized soundwalls within Pasadena, Arcadia and Los Angeles. The soundwall segments in the City are located along the north and south side of the 1-210 Freeway between Fair Oaks and Wilson avenues. 

There are 11 segments of sound walls at various locations along Maple and Corson streets, totaling approximately one mile.

The proposed scope of work includes the construction of up to 15-foot-high concrete masonry block walls within the 1-210 right-of-way, along with restoration of impacted landscaping and irrigation, drainage facilities, utilities, pavement, signage, and striping. 

The soundwalls are located on Caltrans right-of-way, however, certain improvements including portions of soundwall spread footings encroach within the City’s right-of-way along Maple and Corson streets.

Under guidance from the City Attorney’s Office, Public Works staff has worked with Caltrans to prepare agreements between the two agencies for division of maintenance responsibilities of project improvements within each agency’s respective right-of-way. 

One of the agreements establishes City’s responsibility for debris removal, cleaning, and painting of soundwalls to keep City’s side of the wall free of debris, dirt, and graffiti. The City will also be responsible for maintenance of plantings on the City side of the fenced or walled area. The second agreement establishes Caltrans’s responsibility to maintain, repair and/or replace all components of the project, including the soundwall footings encroaching within City’s right-of-way. Caltrans shall obtain all necessary City permits for encroachment and work within City right-of-way; and shall restore all City improvements in kind and/or to its original condition after each maintenance activity. 

Here are the other items on Monday’s consent calendar:

• A Resolution authorizing the City to submit a grant application to the State of California under the Local Housing Trust Fund (“LHTF”) Program for a housing project at 280 Ramona St. that is proposed to provide affordable rental housing for seniors. The LHTF NOFA application is a competitive application with scoring criteria that emphasizes deeper affordability and the construction of new affordable rental housing. At least thirty percent (30%) of funds awarded must be expended to assist Extremely Low Income Households earning 30% or less of Area Median Income (“AMI”). In order for the application to score competitively, the remaining seventy percent (70%) of funds awarded will be committed to new construction rental housing developments that serve Low Income Households earning no more than 60% of AMI. 

• An $83,340 purchase order with Meridian Rapid Defense Group for eight Anti-Terrorism Vehicle Barriers, trailer, accessories and training for department personnel. From time to time, the Police Department needs to provide closure to public streets and city venues from vehicular traffic. Closures for vehicular traffic require barriers able to stop vehicle-born assaults. The Police Department currently utilizes Archer AntiTerrorism Vehicle Barriers to secure the Rose Parade due to their designation by the Department of Homeland Security (OHS) under the Safety Act as Qualified AntiTerrorism Technology (QATT). The Act provides legal liability protections to the end users of designated QATT products.  

• A $418,343 contract with Golden Sun Enterprise, Inc. in response to the plans and specifications for the Brenner Park Renovation project.  The scope of work for the Brenner Park Renovation contract consists of the following: Demolition and replacement of the concrete basketball court; preparation and application of Plexicourt sport surfacing system for the basketball and tennis courts; replacement of the basketball posts, backboards and rims; replacement of existing lights with LED fixtures; replacement of backstop and perimeter fencing; replacement of approximately 1,500 square feet of concrete walkway paving; and installation of new drinking fountains. 

• Contracts with several vendors for library books and audiovisual materials. The Library requires book material vendors and audiovisual material vendors that can provide customized ordering and processing services, timely and high-level customer service and delivery, and a wide-ranging inventory of new, best-selling, and retrospective books and audiovisual items. Priority in requirements for book materials vendors includes the availability of newly published books from all major publishers delivered at or near first publication date. Priority in requirements for audiovisual materials vendors includes the availability of newly published DVDs, audiobooks on CD, music CDs, and other audiovisual formats from all major publishers delivered at or near first publication date. 

• A $270,000 contract with Birdi for three years for facility surveillance equipment and supplies for the Water & Power Department. PWP’s Power Delivery Division provides electric service·to approximately 68,000 customers, and it owns, operates, and maintains critical assets across many facilities that need to be protected and secured. Security at these facilities is also essential for employee safety. PWP staff provides support and repairs as needed to maintain the existing legacy analog and digital security systems at all power distribution facilities. There will be a separate contract initiated by the Department of Information Technology (“DOIT”) to enhance and upgrade security systems at many city-wide facilities to be consistent with currently accepted industry levels of physical security. 

• A $603,750 contract with Vicon Enterprise for the construction of an oil containment system at the Villa Substation for the Water and Power Department. Construction of an oil containment system at Villa Substation is needed to prevent environmental damage resulting from potential mineral oil spills originating from transformers or electrical equipment. Federal Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) regulations require that regulated facilities, including electric facilities, have Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans in place to ensure that potentially large oil spills be contained within the immediate area. A large oil spill can be very costly to remediate and has the potential to seep into the groundwater. The Villa Substation was constructed in 1980, prior to these regulations and it is currently not in compliance. 

• A three-year $1,225,625 contract with Aaron Industrial for scrap metals purchase and removal for the Water and Power Department. Scrap metals from job sites are regularly delivered to the City Yards. These are discarded into roll-off bins which are labeled by the metal types. Metal types include copper wires, aluminum wires, brass, steel, lead, and ductile iron. PWP warehouse manages the disposal of these materials and as such needs the items to be picked up and recycled. The PWP warehouse coordinates with a vendor to load, remove and transport metals to a certified weighmaster. This includes labor, materials, equipment, tools and transportation. Proceeds are based on a percentage of the price per pound (or per ton) as quoted for Los Angeles County region in the American Metals Market (“AMM”) Index. For each load, the vendor is required to pay the City of Pasadena the percentage of the price per pound (or per ton) for the specific metal on the day the scrap metal is removed from the warehouse. 

• American Rescue Plan Act Appropriations. Pasadena’s allocation of direct local stimulus is $52,625,975 with the first 50% allocation paid to the City in June 2021 and the balance in June 2022. The City has committed $32.3 million of ARPA funds with $20.3 million remaining as uncommitted. Within the past month, two federal bills have been introduced that include language to claw back any uncommitted funds. Since the City has documented more than $180 million in revenue loss per the U.S. Treasury’s accounting methodology, the City may immediately recognize and expend all remaining ARPA funds under the revenue loss category as part of the FY 2023 Operating Budget.

• Adopt a resolution acknowledging receipt of the Pasadena Fire Department’s report on its level of compliance with state-mandated annual fire inspections as required by Senate Bill 1205. On September 27. 2018, California Senate·Bill 1205 (SB 1205) was signed into law, which amended preceding law such that an annual report on State mandated fire inspections is now required to be submitted to the governing body of each jurisdiction having authority for conducting fire inspections.