Eighth Street fixes to start in June
The sidewalk disappears in multiple places along Eight Street between Valley Drive and Hermosa, sometimes forcing pedestrians into the road with cars. Photos
Hermosa Beach has chosen a contractor for a long-awaited Eighth Street improvement project, setting the stage for sidewalk fixes that have been years in the making.
The council approved a $714,000 contract with Gentry General Engineering last week. The project will upgrade sidewalks along Eighth between Valley Drive and Hermosa Avenue to make them compliant with standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Work is expected to begin sometime in June, and last about 10 weeks, staff said.
A 3-1 council majority voted to award the contract to Gentry despite the fact that they were not the low bidder on the project. Another contractor, Concept Consulting, had submitted a bid that was approximately $150,000 lower. But, in accordance with state law governing the awards of municipal contracts, the council deemed Concept’s bid “non-responsive.”
Concept has a history with municipal projects, including the Surf Legends Memorial Fountain at the Hermosa Community Center. The council’s decision, though, rested on two possible issues staff identified with Concept’s bid. First, the reference projects it identified were not comparable to the work required for Eighth Street. Additionally, a review of the bid revealed that, under Concept’s plans, subcontractors would be doing more than 51 percent of the work, which went against Hermosa’s local bid rules.
Councilmembers acknowledged that it was a difficult choice, but decided to pursue the more expensive option rather than risk further delaying the highly anticipated sidewalk fixes.
“This is a major artery, it’s a safe route to school, and we don’t want any delays. It’s pretty clear that we need to go with Gentry to make sure that this project gets done, and that it gets done in a timely fashion, and that it gets done right,” said Mayor Stacey Armato.
Currently, stretches on both the north and south sides of Eighth have sidewalks that are narrow, uneven or completely absent. Pedestrians heading east and west are forced to walk into the street, exposed to passing traffic. Councilmembers have said the problem is particularly serious for those in wheelchairs and parents pushing strollers.
Along with being a designated “safe route to school,” Eighth Street can see high traffic, especially in the summer months, because it is one of just five roads in Hermosa that connect Pacific Coast Highway with the beach. (The others are Gould Avenue and 27th Street, Pier Avenue, Second Street, and Herondo Avenue.)
The fixes to Eighth Street have been an identified goal of the city for more than three years. But the work has been complicated by the fact that many sidewalk deficiencies are not just the result of normal wear-and-tear; they stem from encroachment permits that the city has granted over the years to homes on the street, some of which have made improvements on the public right-of-way.
These include extended driveways or yards and, in one instance, an enclosed patio. In previous discussions of the project, engineering staff have said that some or all of these would have to be removed to achieve the four-foot sidewalk width called for under the ADA.
The city is within its rights to make the improvements. Homeowners seeking encroachment permits do so knowing that the city could take back the land at any time. (Further analysis subsequently revealed that, in a few locations, small amounts of private property would also be necessary in order to prevent uneven grading of the sidewalk.) But, for reasons that are unclear, past administrations granted an unusually large number of encroachments on the street. Recognizing the sensitivity of the issue, engineering staff did a walkthrough of the project with residents late last year, then opened up the project for bids in March.
Concept president Nick Sammadi defended his bid in an appearance before the council. He said that he had “no problem” with the bid he had submitted, and assured the council that he would be able to perform the work for the price offered.
Ahead of the meeting, city staff reached out to Old Republic, the surety company Concept had hired for its bid. On construction projects, surety companies act as a kind of insurance policy for contractors that for some reason fail to complete the job. The company assured Hermosa that, if for some reason Concept could not finish the job for the price offered, it would step in and fund a replacement. City staff declined to make a recommendation of either Concept or Gentry, but City Attorney Michael Jenkins said that the surety companies were generally loathe to step in, and that getting them to do so can be unwieldy and time consuming. Council members were ultimately unwilling to risk further delays to the project.
“When it happens, it is never a happy process,” Jenkins said.