|
CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
December 6, 2004 | |
Author: |
Rowan Birch | |
Phone No.: |
7292 | |
RTS No.: |
4733 | |
CC File No.: |
5653 | |
Meeting Date: |
January 18, 2005 |
TO: |
Vancouver City Council |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
REPLACEMENT OF GUARDRAILS AT EASYPARK LOT 5 (520 W. GEORGIA) |
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve an increase of the 2004 Capital Budget for the Parking Corporation of Vancouver (EasyPark) in the amount of $170,000 to provide sufficient funding for the completion of guardrail replacement at EasyPark Lot 5 (520 W. Georgia). Funding to be from the Parking Site Reserve.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager RECOMMENDS the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
The Parking Corporation of Vancouver (EasyPark) operates the City's off-street parking facilities in accordance with a Management Agreement between the City and EasyPark.
City Council approves EasyPark's Capital Budget and allocation of funding from the Parking Site Reserve.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to obtain Council approval for a budget increase for a project which was previously approved by Council as part of EasyPark's 2004 Capital Budget. This project involves replacement of guardrails at Carpark 5 (520 W. Georgia). The budget increase is necessary because bid prices which have been submitted significantly exceed the approved budget.
BACKGROUND
On April 8, 2004, City Council approved EasyPark's Capital Budget for 2004. One of the items in this Capital Budget was for the replacement of guardrails at Carpark 5 (520 West Georgia). The existing guardrails at this location are corroding and failure to replace them will give rise to potential safety concerns.
The original budget of $80,000 came from an estimate produced by an engineering consultant hired by EasyPark. The consultant has advised that the estimate was based on the construction cost of similar projects in 2003. However, when bids were submitted for the work, all bids were considerably in excess of the budget. The lowest bid submitted was $230,797, plus GST. The engineering consultant explained this variance as a result of significantly higher steel prices (almost doubling in a period of three months) and contractors responding to price volatility risk in their bids.
Under the circumstances, it is appropriate to request that Council reconsider their budget approval.
DISCUSSION
Both staff and EasyPark management agree that an early replacement of the guardrails is a priority due to safety concerns, and are recommending that Council approve an increase to the original budget for this work.
The original low bidder has not agreed to maintain its original price. Subsequent to the submission of the original bids, EasyPark obtained an additional quotation from the City's fabrication shops for $232,565 plus GST. EasyPark now considers this bid to be the best value alternative. The additional funding requested in this report, when combined with the original $80,000 budget, will be sufficient to provide for the total cost of guardrail replacement as quoted by the City's fabrication shops.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Funds for the guardrail replacement project are available in the Parking Site Reserve.
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