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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2020 0916 CCSA REG ITEM 09DCITY OF MOORPARK, 
CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting of September 16, 2020 ACTION Approved in Concept the Civic Center Master Plan, and Directed Staff to Include the Conceptual Civic Center Master Plan as the Project Description for the Completion of Future Environmental and Other Required Documentation. BY B.Garza. D. Consider Adoption of Civic Center Master Plan. Staff Recommendation: Adopt the Civic Center Maser Plan. (Staff: Jeremy Laurentowski) Item: 9.D. Item: 9.D. MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Jeremy Laurentowski, Parks and Recreation Director BY: Jessica Sandifer, Community Services Manager DATE: 09/16/2020 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Adoption of Civic Center Master Plan SUMMARY It is recommended that the City Council adopt the Civic Center Master Plan. BACKGROUND & DISCUSSION The primary intent of the Civic Center Master Plan (Master Plan) is to substantiate the location for the future City Library previously approved by the City Council in 2016. The Master Plan also provides the planning framework for the Civic Center campus, including the location of the future City Hall, and will ultimately guide decisions regarding future development in the Civic Center core area. The Master Plan is a viable development plan that identifies areas for private investment and economic development that can subsequently form the basis of a request for qualification (RFQ) solicitation to procure one or more development partners. The land uses recommended for the Civic Center site consider surrounding residential and commercial development, and opportunities for commercial land uses within the Civic Center area. Three Master Plan concepts were prepared for the City Council’s consideration at their meeting on July 15, 2020. The staff report is attached. At that meeting staff sought concurrence from the City Council on the following items: • Concurrence on the library location to facilitate moving forward with the design of the Library. • Concurrence on the Post Office Parking Lot “Mercado” Concept. • Concurrence on potential private development locations depicted on the site. • Concurrence on the preferred Master Plan option or recommendations to be brought back and discussed at a future meeting. 48 Honorable City Council 09/16/2020 Regular Meeting Page 2 Staff is presenting the final Civic Center Master Plan for City Council approval. At the July 15, 2020 meeting, the City Council unanimously recommended Concept B, which includes a location for a new City Library and City Hall facility on the north side of High Street, west of Moorpark Avenue. Concept B was the preferred option for a variety of reasons: the planning area for the future Library and City Hall is already owned by the City; it is consistent with prior City Council direction by providing a strong civic bookend to the west end of High Street; it allows for the City to move forward with the construction of the new City Library while still preserving space for the future City Hall; and it maximizes commercial and/or residential opportunities along the future expansion of High Street to the west. Concept B involves construction of the library building on the north side of High Street, west of Moorpark Avenue, generally across from the Post Office parking lot. The City Hall building would be constructed where the existing library is currently located. The master plan accommodates an 18,000 sq. ft. library building, with a 4,000 sq. ft. future expansion area. The Concept also includes a 22,000 sq. ft. City Hall building with City Council Chambers, associated parking for both facilities, and proposes to repurpose the Post Office parking lot into a central gathering place (Mercado) to be used for variety events, such as a farmers market. It provides for additional economic activation of High Street to the west, the potential for future redevelopment of the existing Civic Center site, and it allows for the potential future re-use of the existing Community Center and Administration Building. Since staff presented the Master Plan concepts to the City Council, the project architect has finalized the Master Plan to include additional site details and enhanced graphics in order to better visualize the planning area. The placement of the buildings, site features, and general planning concepts that were originally presented in Concept B have not changed. The project will be phased, with the new Library designed and constructed first, and the City Hall and Mercado to follow at a future date. This phased approach will allow staff an opportunity to evaluate funding options to construct the future City hall and Mercado, and to evaluate options to temporarily move City staff prior to build out the Civic Center campus. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact by approving the Civic Center Master Plan. Upon the adoption of a final Civic Center Master Plan concept, staff will move forward with the design of the library and future expansion area. The current estimate to construct the library is approximately $18,000,000. 49 Honorable City Council 09/16/2020 Regular Meeting Page 3 COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE This action is consistent with City Council Strategy 1, Goal 4, Objective 3 (1.4.3): “Develop conceptual design for new City Hall and Library including Civic Center Master Plan.” STAFF RECOMMENDATION Adopt the Civic Center Maser Plan. Attachments: Attachment 1: Civic Center Master Plan Attachment 2: July 15, 2020 City Council Staff Report 50 ATTACHMENT 151 Item: 9.B. MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Jeremy Laurentowski, Parks and Recreation Director BY: Jessica Sandifer, Community Services Manager DATE: 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Civic Center Master Plan Concepts SUMMARY The primary intent of the Civic Center Master Plan (Master Plan) is to substantiate the location for the future City Library that was previously approved by the City Council in 2016. However, the Master Plan will ultimately provide the planning framework for the Civic Center campus, including the location of the future City Hall, and will guide decisions regarding future development in the Civic Center core area. The Master Plan will ultimately produce a viable development plan that may include private investment and economic development opportunities that can subsequently form the basis of a request for qualification (RFQ) solicitation to procure one or more development partners. The land uses recommended for the Civic Center site consider surrounding residential and commercial development, and opportunities for commercial land uses within the Civic Center area. Three Master Plan concepts have been prepared for the City Council’s consideration. The intent of tonight’s meeting is to present the options to the City Council, provide a staff recommendation, obtain concurrence on the staff recommendation, or provide feedback that will ultimately be incorporated into the final plan. The plans are diagrammatic and the graphics are simplistic in order to focus attention to the proposed land uses and general building locations. It should be noted that staff is not seeking guidance on exterior elevations, interior building plans, or site details at this time. ATTACHMENT 2 52 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 2 To help guide tonight’s discussion, staff is seeking to obtain concurrence on the staff recommendation which includes the following items: •Concurrence on the library location to facilitate moving forward with the design of the Library. •Concurrence on the Post Office Parking Lot “Mercado” Concept. •Concurrence on potential private development locations depicted on the site. •Concurrence on the preferred Master Plan option or recommendations to be brought back and discussed at a future meeting. BACKGROUND A new Civic Center, including a new City Library and City Hall, has been among the City’s top 10 priorities for a number of years and land was assembled for this purpose adjacent to the corner of High Street and Moorpark Avenue. The Civic Center in this location will ultimately function as a civic “bookend” for the west end of High Street, with the Police Services Center and Ruben Castro Services Center being the bookend to the east. The process of developing a new Civic Center was initiated due to the fact that City operations have outgrown the existing City Hall buildings. Additionally, the existing buildings, such as the Administration Building, Community Center and Library will require extensive renovation work to bring them up to current building code requirements and address deferred maintenance operations. In 2006, the office space at City Hall was expanded by leasing additional temporary modular office buildings to accommodate the Community Development and Public Works Department staff, and the relocated public counter. In 2010, in recognition of the fact that the need for the modular buildings would exceed the initial lease term, the City purchased the modular office space. Initially, the planning process only included the design of a new City Hall building. However, in January 2007, the City Council approved taking over the Moorpark City Library from the County of Ventura. To address this change, an architect was instructed to include a library into the master plan concept. On May 15, 2007, a conceptual Master Plan was approved by the City Council for the future Civic Center project. The concept included a 35,000 square-foot two-story City Hall structure and a new 25,000 square-foot two-story library. However, at the time the concept was presented, the City was concurrently evaluating the library facility, including the ultimate size of the library. In July 2007, the City hired a library consultant to prepare a space needs study. The study indicated that in order to provide the amount of space necessary to accommodate the ideal levels of service for current and future library patrons, based on a build out population of 45,000, the building would need to be approximately 33,000 square feet in size. In consideration of the costs to construct such a large building, as well as the associated maintenance and staffing costs, the City opted to conduct a voter opinion 53 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 3 survey in the fall of 2007. The results of the survey indicated that a ballot measure would not be supported by the Moorpark voters. After the survey was completed, efforts on the Civic Center project stalled due to other priorities and lack of community support to provide funding for a library. In 2009, the undergrounding of the open storm drain channel and future land acquisition of approximately six acres to the west of the civic center site created additional design opportunities related to the Civic Center project. The project Architects were directed to master plan the Civic Center site with a single-story City Hall building and an expansion of the existing library. Concurrently with these planning efforts, an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Civic Center Master Plan was being prepared. For many reasons, including the historic Tanner Wall and future traffic constraints on High Street and Moorpark Avenue, the EIR was turning into a lengthy and time consuming process. In January 2012, the City Council approved moving forward with the design of the expansion of the existing library while the EIR document was being completed. However, in February 2012 the Redevelopment Agency was eliminated, which caused the project to once again stall while property ownership issues of redevelopment assets were resolved through the Redevelopment dissolution process. In 2016, the property issues were resolved and the library project began moving forward again. In December, 2016, staff brought two potential sites for the library location to the City Council for consideration. The sites were selected because they were already owned by the City, were large enough to accommodate the library building, and were located downtown. Staff believes that it is necessary to maintain civic uses downtown, as it enhances the overall civic center concept and may contribute to the success of local businesses. Successful libraries in other cities have increased local businesses by bringing library patrons downtown, energizing and activating the downtown area. Another important component of keeping the library downtown is the proximity of the library to the patrons that utilize it, as well as the proximity to neighborhood schools. Chaparral Middle School, Flory Academy, and Walnut Canyon Elementary School are within walking distance to the downtown area and based on recent discussions with library staff, a large percentage of the patrons that utilize the Library are located in nearby neighborhoods. Two potential sites were identified where a new library could be constructed. Site A was located north of High Street, south of the current Civic Center site, and Site B was located on the south side of High Street, east of Moorpark Avenue, adjacent to the Metrolink station. Staff’s analysis determined that Site A was the more favorable location. This was primarily due to the fact that Site B had several disadvantages, most notably that it would require a two story building due to constraints related to the railroad right-of-way, and additional sound mitigation due to the proximity to the railroad corridor. A two-story structure would add additional construction costs and would increase staffing costs necessary to operate the library. Additionally, the location on the south side of High Street (Site B) would eliminate some availability of valuable commercial real estate from the High Street corridor and could negatively impact parking during 54 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 4 peak library operating hours. For those reasons, staff recommended and City Council concurred, to move forward with Site A, which included the design of a new 18,000 sq. ft. single story City library on the north side of High Street, across from the Post Office, as the preferred location. As mentioned previously, the size of the library recommended in 2007 was 33,000 s.f. This was based on a space needs study and evaluation of operational standards prepared by the library consultant hired by the City at that time. However, the current recommended size of the proposed library is approximately 18,000 sq. ft. This is consistent with the current population of Moorpark and current trends in library programming. According to Linda Demmers Library Consulting, the library consultant hired by the City in 2017, the size of a library should generally be proportionate to the City’s population. Since the 2007 library space needs study was conducted, models for how to construct and operate libraries have evolved with the advancement of digital materials. Libraries have now become popular gathering places where individuals meet, work, and participate in programming. The space required to store books and materials has been reduced due to digital advancements, as well as reciprocal borrowing agreements with other local libraries. In keeping up with this evolution, the current industry standard is one square foot of library space for every two residents. If we apply this calculation to Moorpark’s current population of approximately 35,000 residents, an 18,000 sq. ft. library would be appropriate. However, it is anticipated that the library will need to be expanded to approximately 22,000 sq. ft. at build-out of the City. This is based on a population of approximately 45,000 residents. Subsequent to the City Council’s approval of the library site, staff had a geotechnical report prepared to determine the characteristics of the soil on the City-owned property across from the Post Office. The soils report indicated that the soils on site are susceptible to liquefaction and dry seismic settlement. The report indicated that ground improvement would be required to a depth of approximately 50 feet, resulting in additional cost between $725,000 and $955,000 to the library budget. It was estimated that the cost of the library, including architectural, consulting costs, site improvement costs, utility improvements, construction and furniture, fixtures and equipment would be approximately $18,000,000. In 2018, staff conducted a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process for an Architect to design the Moorpark City Library. A component of the RFQ that was approved by the City Council was the inclusion of a comprehensive site plan that would not only allow for the future expansion of the library, but would also consider the potential future construction of a City Hall building adjacent to the library site. In conjunction with the Ad Hoc Committee, staff determined that it would be beneficial to complete both projects under one architectural firm so that a comprehensive Master Plan could be developed considering all aspects of the current site and surrounding uses. In November 2018, the City Council awarded an agreement to CWA AIA, Inc. (CWA) for the design of the Moorpark City Library and creation of the Master Plan. 55 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 5 As a further impetus to complete the Master Plan process and move forward with construction of the library, staff has been concerned with the decline in the existing Civic Center facilities. The modular buildings are either at or have exceeded their useful life, and major renovations will be needed over the next five years to keep the buildings functional and to bring them up to current building code standards. Staff recently conducted an analysis of expenses related to civic center facilities. Over the last three years maintenance costs have averaged over $115,000 annually. Additionally, staff has estimated that the continued use of the existing buildings over the next five years will cost the City approximately $1.7 million dollars. The high costs are primarily due to major infrastructure needs, such as roofing ($350,000), the replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems ($425,000), as well as electrical ($650,000), structural ($100,000) and plumbing ($175,000) upgrades. In addition, the current buildings are in need of many upgrades to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Currently, staff budgets $25,000 each year to complete ADA upgrades. However, the full costs to meet these requirements are high. Staff recently hired a consultant to prepare a comprehensive ADA Transition Plan for the current Civic Center facilities and has determined that it would cost the City over $725,000 to complete all the deficiencies listed in the Plan. DISCUSSION The Civic Center Master Plan process began in January 2019 with a detailed site analysis and space needs study. CWA gathered data regarding the civic center site by reviewing building plans for the existing Civic Center buildings, historical reports of the site and surrounding developments, and conducting group and individual interviews with the City Manager and Department Heads regarding their departmental functions. Through the space needs study, CWA determined that a future city hall building should be approximately 22,000 sq. ft. in size to accommodate current and future staffing needs, as well as a City Council Chamber. CWA also performed an extensive review of the existing buildings on the site. Generally, their review indicated that the Administrative Building, Library and the Community Center / Active Adult Center are structurally sound, but would require electrical upgrades, HVAC, and ADA upgrades if the buildings were to continue to be used by the City, or if the use and/or occupancy of the buildings were to change or expand. CWA determined that the modular buildings, which currently house the Development Services offices, break room and IS staff, have outlived their useful life and are not recommended for any future re-use scenario. The modular office spaces are in immediate need of replacement, which will require a short- term scenario to move staff to other locations or facilities until such time that a new civic center site can be built, purchased or leased. As part of their analysis of the site, CWA had the soils tested on the north side of the site and a geotechnical report was prepared that utilized the new data and the prior data from the testing done by the City. The analysis was necessary to determine whether the soil liquefaction issues extended throughout the entire site or if they were isolated to certain 56 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 6 areas within the City-owned properties. The soils analysis determined that the north and south ends of the site had similar liquefaction issues, requiring expensive mitigation measures. At the north end of the site, the depth of required soil modification was reduced by ten feet, however, the slope from north to south in this location is more prominent, which will require additional modification to mitigate for lateral spread. Because of this, the cost implications associated with soil remediation is relatively equal between the north and south portions of the site, and there is no opportunity to reduce construction costs based on location. CWA’s research and evaluation process has determined that the properties owned by the City on the corner of Moorpark Avenue and High Street, still represent the best location for the future civic center buildings. To that end, the Master Plan concepts are all proposed for this area. There are three Master Plan concepts that have been prepared by CWA. All the concepts share certain features: •All concepts identify an 18,000 sq. ft. library with a future 4,000 sq. ft. library expansion to be constructed at a later date. The future expansion was included in the original approval by the City Council in 2016. •All concepts take into consideration the library location that was originally approved by the City Council in 2016 on the north side of High Street across from the Post Office. The City Council considered many advantages to this location in 2016 including a seamless transition for library patrons; proximity to local schools; proximity to downtown and maintaining civic uses downtown, activating High Street and a bookend to High Street. Additionally, although all the concepts differ, it is anticipated that the library will be built during the initial construction phase and that the City Hall will be built at a future date. This is primarily due to the fact that there are certain cost savings from not having to move the library to another location during construction. Building both the library and City Hall during the same phase, on the same site, will require moving the library to a temporary location until the new library has been completed. None of the concepts consider locating the library on the future Essex property due to the uncertainty of timing around the City acquiring the property. •All the concepts take into consideration that the costs of soil mitigation due to the liquefaction properties of the soil are generally equal. •All concepts take into consideration that the Active Adult Center and Community Center will remain on-site and operating, and that the remaining property to the north of the site could be declared surplus and used to facilitate further affordable housing construction or commercial development in the downtown area. It is anticipated that joint use of parking areas and other site features would need to be included in any future property sale negotiations. 57 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 7 •All the concepts take into consideration the approximately six-acre parcel to the west of the proposed library location that will be deeded to the City by Essex Properties (Essex) at a future date. The Master Plan concepts include expanding High Street to the west and utilizing the Essex property for future commercial, housing, civic, or a combination of uses. However, there have not been any recent discussions with Essex and the timing of the City’s acquisition of this property is uncertain. •All the concepts propose to improve the Post Office parking lot to provide for a gathering place or “Mercado” that could be used as parking for the downtown area during the week and on weeknights, but could also host a farmers market or other events during the weekend. Additionally, an architectural feature of some design is proposed at the south west corner of High Street and Moorpark Avenue to welcome visitors downtown. •All the concepts propose a courtyard area and added green space to allow for the Civic Center to function as a community gathering place. Concept A – Library Only Concept A involves construction of the new Library on the north side of High Street, west of Moorpark Avenue, generally across from the Post Office parking lot. It does not contemplate development of a new City Hall building. In this concept, City Hall would ultimately include the renovation and reuse of the existing Administration Building, Community Center, and existing Library building for use as the Civic Center campus. Alternatively, the future City Hall building could include the purchase or lease of an industrial office building off site. The advantages of this concept include: •Construction costs are reduced by virtue of only constructing one new building. •Costs to renovate the existing buildings for use as City Hall office space would be less costly than constructing a new building. While there is always a certain amount of unknown expense when conducting a renovation, CWA has confirmed that the existing framework that makes up the library, Administration Building and Community Center are generally structurally sound, allowing for consideration of their reuse. •As mentioned previously, there is minimal phasing involved with this concept and there are certain cost savings as it relates to moving and relocation. This concept only requires the relocation of City Hall staff and the library one time. •If City Hall were to move off site and to a separate stand-alone building, the Administration building and potentially the existing library building could be re- used or re-purposed for various community organizations. 58 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 8 •There are many advantages to maintaining a civic presence downtown. There is an opportunity to activate and provide a book end to High Street, increase certain economic activities, provide for a community gathering place, and provide an identity to Moorpark and our historic downtown. •Parking under this concept is generous and would bring parking closer to the downtown area for use by downtown businesses during the night and weekend hours. •Provides a plaza and generous green space for community use. •All property is currently owned by the City. The disadvantages of this concept include: •Maintaining a civic center campus where departments are spread far apart provides a barrier to a collaborative working process. •Moving City Hall off-site will lessen the positive impacts that a civic center would provide downtown. Concept B – Library and City Hall Concept B involves construction of the library building on the north side of High Street west of Moorpark Avenue, generally across from the Post Office parking lot. The City Hall building would be constructed where the existing library is currently located. There are advantages and disadvantages with this concept that are directly related to project phasing. Building both the library and City Hall at the same time may ultimately save the City future construction costs, as these costs generally increase annually. As mentioned previously, in 2019 construction costs increased approximately 10%. However, the City saw substantial cost savings in 2009 during the construction of the Ruben Castro Human Services Center (RCHSC). The RCHSC was completed at the end of the last major economic recession. Conversely, by phasing construction and building the library first and the City Hall at a future date, the City may save overall costs due to the fact that the library will not need to be relocated twice. The library would stay in the current location and City Hall would not be built until construction of the new library was completed. The advantages of this concept include: •There could be overall cost savings by constructing both facilities at the same time. This is primarily related to future construction cost increases. •As mentioned previously in this report, building a library and City Hall on the corner of High Street and Moorpark Avenue will provide a strong civic anchor on the west side of the High Street corridor. •All property is currently owned by the City. 59 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 9 The disadvantages of this concept include: •Constructing both buildings at the same time would require the existing library building to be demolished immediately to make room for City Hall. This would increase project costs due to the temporary relocation of the library during construction. •In a phased approach, where City Hall is built after the library, mitigating the liquefaction on the site for the City Hall building after the library is constructed will complicate grading and will potentially increase construction costs. •Parking under this concept is reduced, as compared to Concept A and would require the reconfiguration of the existing City Hall parking lot area to accommodate parking needs and will potentially require shared parking agreements if the north half of the civic center site is sold for future development. •Less green space under this concept within the Civic Center campus. •Noise mitigation for the City Hall building may be necessary due to truck traffic on Moorpark Avenue. Mechanical measures may increase construction costs. If selected, staff recommends moving forward with a phased approach to Concept B, where the new Library is completed prior to construction of a new City Hall building. This approach may provide for some cost savings and will provide the least impact to library operations, as the library will not need to move temporarily during construction. Additionally, a phased approach will allow staff an opportunity to evaluate funding options to build out the Civic Center campus and may provide a temporary solution to house City Staff. As mentioned previously, the existing modular buildings are in need of replacement. Once the new library is completed, the existing library could be renovated to provide a temporary solution for needed office space. Concept C – Library and City Hall Concept C involves construction of the library building on the north side of High Street west of Moorpark Avenue, generally across from the Post Office parking lot. The City Hall building would be constructed west of the Library, north of High Street. This concept contemplates the six-acre piece of land that will be deeded to the City as part of the Essex Apartment projects. The advantages of this concept include: •Encourages the expansion of High Street to the west, bringing with it many of the advantages of maintaining a Civic Center downtown. •Provides generous parking area for the downtown businesses to use. •Provides generous green space. 60 Honorable City Council 07/15/2020 Regular Meeting Page 10 The disadvantages of this concept include: •Construction of City Hall building is contingent upon the City acquiring the property from Essex, which has an unknown development timeline. This is particularly problematic if the Essex project does not get built. •Liquefaction mitigation will be required on the Essex site, which may have worse soil then the proposed City Hall site. •Reduces future commercial development along the extension of High Street. In consideration of all of the advantages and disadvantages, staff is recommending the selection of Concept B as the preferred Master Plan concept. Concept B is planned on property already owned by the City, it is consistent with prior City Council direction by providing a strong civic bookend to the west end of High Street, it allows for the City to move forward with the construction of the new City Library, while still preserving space for the future City Hall, and it maximizes commercial and/or residential property along the future expansion of High Street to the west. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact on approving a Civic Center Master Plan. Upon the selection and adoption of a final Civic Center Master Plan concept, staff will move forward with design of the library and future library expansion. The current estimate to construct the library is approximately $18,000,000. COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE This action is consistent with City Council Strategy 1, Goal 4, Objective 3 (1.4.3): “Develop conceptual design for new City Hall and Library including Civic Center Master Plan.” STAFF RECOMMENDATION Select Concept B as the preferred Civic Center Maser Plan layout, including approval of the “Mercado” concept and the future private development areas as noted on the Master Plan. Attachment: Civic Center Master Plan Concepts 61 DRAFTCIVIC CENTER MASTERPLAN06-30-20 - SCALE 1"=100'CONCEPT A$77$&+0(1762 DRAFTCIVIC CENTER MASTERPLAN06-30-20 - SCALE 1"=100'CONCEPT B63 DRAFTCIVIC CENTER MASTERPLAN06-30-20 - SCALE 1"=100'CONCEPT C64