BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Government Code § 84308 Applies: Yes ☒ No ☐
(If “YES” Complete Attachment A - Gov. Code § 84308)
SUBJECT:
Title
Approve the Agreement No. A4862S, for Construction and Maintenance, and Agreement No. A4832X, for Operations and Maintenance, with Google LLC. for the Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project for a Portion of Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Sunnyvale East and West Channels Flood Protection, Project No. 26074002 (Sunnyvale, District 3).
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RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
A. Consider the environmental effects of modifications to the Sunnyvale East and West Channels Flood Protection Project, as discussed in the second Addendum to the Final Environmental Impact Report;
B. Find that it would be competitively unavailing to advertise and bid the construction of the East Bank and West Bank Floodwalls located near 1212 Bordeaux Drive, Sunnyvale, California (Google Project Reach) using Santa Clara Valley Water District’s standard bidding process because competitive bidding would not yield a lower price for constructing these floodwalls than the price negotiated between Google and Santa Clara Valley Water District;
C. Approve the Agreement for the Construction and Maintenance of the Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project with Google, LLC (Google) in the amount of $1,590,608; and
D. Approve the Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project: Operation and Maintenance Agreement.
Body
SUMMARY:
The Sunnyvale East and West Channels Flood Protection Project (Flood Protection Project, Attachment 1) was included in the voter-approved 2012 Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program (Safe, Clean Water Program) and again in 2020 in the voter approved renewed Safe, Clean Water Program as Project E2 under the flood protection priority. The Sunnyvale Flood Protection Project was approved by the Board of Directors in 2014 and will improve conveyance capacity of two existing storm drain channels to protect against the 100-yr flood event within the City of Sunnyvale (City).
A portion of Flood Protection Project is located adjacent to and immediately east of 1212 Bordeaux Drive, and adjacent to and immediately west of 1265 Borregas Avenue in the City. Google LLC (Google) is the owner of this property and holds an easement right to install and maintain structures to cross over and/or under Sunnyvale West Channel, provided such crossings will be constructed in a manner that minimizes interference with the maintenance of Santa Clara Valley Water District’s (Valley Water) facilities and that such facilities will not be obstructed or endangered by any such crossings.
Google proposes to construct a bridge for use by pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as construct public access trails, which would be operated and maintained by the City of Sunnyvale according to the terms of Joint Use Agreement #A4680X, as amended (see Item 23-0508). This bridge is part of the Green Link, Google’s proposed public bicycle and pedestrian network that includes designated bike lanes, sidewalk and infrastructure improvements, and roadway changes that improve safety and create new opportunities for people to circulate within City’s Moffett Park Specific Plan Area. To accommodate the pedestrian bridge, the Flood Protection Project design was modified, and Google proposes to construct approximately 450 linear feet of floodwall on the west side of the channel and approximately 214 linear feet of floodwall on the east side of the channel. These floodwalls, referred to as the Google Project Reach, would provide the same level of flood protection as the approved Flood Protection Project.
The Agreement for the Construction and Maintenance of the Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project (Agreement; Attachment 2) provides for Google to receive Valley Water funds in the amount of $1,590,608 to construct the Google Project Reach portion of the Flood Protection Project. The Agreement also outlines the responsibilities of each party for construction and maintenance of the Google improvements and the modified Flood Protection Project improvements, where they overlap or connect to each other.
This cost-share is financially advantageous to Valley Water. The Google Project Reach is not a public work that would benefit from undertaking a competitive bidding process because solicited bids would not produce an economic advantage. First, the cost-share represents a fixed-price contract, whereas a competitively bid contract may result in change orders due to unforeseen circumstances. Potential unforeseen circumstances include encountering Class I hazardous materials during construction. Second, coincident construction of the Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project and the Flood Protection Project by two separate construction contractors will probably result in inefficiencies and delay claims to the Flood Protection Project which will lead to increased project costs. With this agreement, Google would assume any construction cost overruns. Third, the cost-share amount is based on current 2023 construction costs, whereas the Flood Protection Project would be constructed in 2024 or later, with associated escalated costs due to inflation. Finally, the cost-share amount is based on a Valley Water design estimate, which is substantially lower than Google’s estimate. Google’s higher estimate reflects a fully developed design, while the Valley Water estimate would be expected to increase with design development. Based on these reasons, it would be competitively unavailing for Valley Water to solicit bids for the construction of the Google Project Reach because competitive bidding would not yield a lower price for constructing these floodwalls than the fixed-price negotiated between Google and Valley Water; therefore, the purposes of competitive bidding would not be accomplished because of the unlikelihood that it would result in any cost savings to construction of the Google Project Reach.
The Moffett Park Green Link Bordeaux-Borregas Bridge Project: Operation and Maintenance Agreement (Attachment 3, O&M Agreement) outlines the post construction maintenance responsibilities for Valley Water and Google and addresses inspection, repair, and replacement responsibilities for all elements of the Google Project Reach improvements that provide flood protection, including the bridge headwalls. The O&M Agreement also has provisions that Google be responsible for removing the bridge if they no longer own the properties on both sides of the channel benefitting from the bridge and provide replacement flood protection facilities to fill in the gap in the floodwalls were the bridge to be removed.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
There are no Environmental Justice Impacts associated with this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Google, LLC and Valley Water agree to a reimbursement amount of $1,590,608 to fund construction of 664 lineal feet of floodwall as part of the modified Flood Protection Project. There are adequate funds to fund this reimbursable expenditure in the FY24 Sunnyvale East Channel and Sunnyvale West Channel Flood Protection Project, which is funded by the Safe, Clean Water Program (Fund 26).
CEQA:
On September 9, 2014, Valley Water’s Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (SCH No. 2013012041) and approved the Sunnyvale East and West Channels Flood Protection Project as lead agency pursuant to CEQA. Valley Water has prepared a first addendum to the Valley Water Project EIR, which describes changes to the previously approved Valley Water Project including design changes to be implemented by the West Channel Enhancement Project and analyzes the environmental effects that could result from the proposed changes. The City of Sunnyvale has prepared a second Addendum to the Flood Protection Project EIR (Attachment 4), which describes design changes to the previously approved Flood Protection Project including design changes to be implemented in the Google Project Reach and analyzes the environmental effects that could result from the project changes. As set forth in the Addendum, none of the conditions described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15162(a) would occur as a result of the project changes. Specifically, the project changes would not result in new or substantially worse significant impacts. Therefore, an addendum is the appropriate level of environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15164(a).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Gov. Code §84308
Attachment 1: Location Map
Attachment 2: Agreement, Cost Share
Attachment 3: Agreement, O&M
Attachment 4: CEQA, Addendum No. 2
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Lisa Bankosh, 408-630-2618