Staff is requesting City Council approval of a Professional Services Agreement (PSA) between the City of Burbank and Wolff Lang Christopher Architects Inc. (WLC) to provide professional architectural design, specialty consultants, and engineering services for the South San Fernando Park (SSP-1) Project, Phase I.

For nearly ten years Burbank has made the development of a community park in the southeast area of the City a top priority. Within the last five years, the City Council dedicated funds from various public sources toward the acquisition of property in the South San Fernando Boulevard area. In 1997, the area surrounding the proposed park site was designated by the City Council as the South San Fernando Redevelopment Project Area.

The Burbank Unified School District (BUSD) took operational control of the community school from the County of Los Angeles in 1999. The BUSD has also been seeking a permanent home and location for its community school after the District�s former administrative office site was procured by the City of Burbank. The opportunity to combine a much-needed recreational amenity with the community school at a single location became apparent when the City started to assemble land parcels as part of developing its community park for residents of the southeast area.

While, the project area itself is comprised primarily of mostly industrial and commercial uses, the immediate surrounding areas are developed as multi-family residential. This high resident concentration does not have immediate access to adequate open space and recreational facilities and further supports the need for a project of this nature.

The City is planning a multi-phase project that may ultimately include:

1. permanent facilities for the BUSD community day school
2. indoor recreational facilities
3. a lighted soccer field, rest rooms, play equipment, and
4. other public recreation amenities.

Phase I is the focus of this report and will be explained in detail. Subsequent phases of the park project are dependent upon availability of additional suitable real estate and funding.

The proposed conceptual plan for SSP-1 may include a two-story facility of approximately 16,000 square feet with an 8,000 square foot footprint. The building would be a joint use facility to provide the needs for the City of Burbank Youth Recreation Program and a BUSD community school. Others uses may include a proposed tot lot, basketball court, park open space, and parking.

The SSP-1 site consists of approximately two acres on various parcels bordering San Fernando Boulevard to the north, Providencia Avenue to the west, and Cedar Avenue to the east. All existing lots are vacant except the two lots on San Fernando Blvd. that are currently being leased to BUSD as a temporary location for its community school. Environmental assessments have been conducted for Phase 1 sites and all abatement, demolition, soils, and survey activities have been completed.

A selection process was commenced in July 2002 to identify a qualified architectural firm to provide comprehensive design, specialty consulting, and engineering services for SSP-1. The selection process included the following steps.

2.  City staff developed a Request for Proposal (RFP)¹ to clearly establish rationale to limit RFP distribution. This was founded on:

1. Drawing upon recognized and diversely talented A-E firms who have designed similar developments and have a reputation for design excellence.
2. Creating a manageable competition and stimulate high quality competition by eliminating the "cattle call" mentality and minimizing invitees.
3. Recognizing prior quality public works, recreation, and K-12 school building, interior design and planning capabilities.
4. Identifying geographically accessible firms that will provide requisite in-house staff resources to deliver a project of this size and complexity.

3. Due to the project�s importance, the Committee invited other individuals to participate in the presentations given by potential architectural firms. Those present included (committee members have an asterisk following their names):

Mary Alvord - Assistant City Manager

Bruce Feng - Public Works Director *

Michael Flad - Parks, Recreation & Community Services Director *

Mohammad Kashani-Jou - Burbank Unified School District*

Ruth Davidson-Guerra - Senior Redevelopment Project Manager *

Phillip Clifford - Capital Projects Manager *

Jan Bartolo � Recreation & Parks Asst. Director*

Howard Kuttler � Public Works Project Manager*

4. Committee discussions were immediately held after completion of all presentations by potential architectural firms and included input from other invitees. The Committee�s majority agreed on the following ranking based on the primary objective of meeting the City�s best interests:

1. WLC Architects (WLC)
2. HMC Group (HMC)
3. Charles Walton Associates Architects Inc. (WLC)
4. The Albert Group Architects (TAG)

5. The Lump Sum Fee for each firm was subsequently opened, summarized, and analyzed by committee members Phillip Clifford, Capital Projects Manager, and Howard Kuttler, Public Works Project Manager, to ensure the scope was comprehensive and appropriately priced. A final meeting was held with the Committee to determine the most qualified architectural firm. At this final meeting, the Committee agreed to direct staff to initiate contract negotiations with WLC.

Firm Profile � WLC is based in Rancho Cucamonga, California and is a ninety-two-person firm that specializes in working with government, institutional, educational, and non-profit organizations. WLC�s capabilities include programming, planning, design, project management, and construction administration on a wide range of facilities. Since its establishment in 1974, WLC has developed a long-standing reputation for continually providing the highest level of professional services and client satisfaction.

WLC possesses the resources and expertise of a large firm, yet they specifically provide individual hands-on principal involvement throughout the course of every project. They believe that the Principal-in-Charge should not be a "figurehead," but rather a true hands-on leader.

WLC is a green building expert. Recent projects from the WLC portfolio have been published in Architectural Record, Los Angeles Times, Engineering News Record, Building Design and Construction, and the Environmental Resource Guide. WLC is also recognized as one of the most respected firms in providing project management, quality assurance/quality control, and construction administration services.

Professional Services Agreement � Attachment B represents the Professional Services Agreement to be used between the City and WLC and is similar to the PSA executed with WWCOT Architects for the Development and Community Services Building Project. The impetus behind its development was to improve the City�s control over the architect and impose a higher accountability level on its service delivery and overall performance.

The PSA is specifically tailored to WLC as a provider of professional architectural services and increases the City�s authority and sole judgement over the quality level and/or acceptability of the architect�s services. The architect has specific responsibility for all costs to make the City whole as a direct consequence of potential architect errors and/or omissions.

Project Services � Attachment B provides details of WLC�s Scope of Services for the SSP-1 Project. These services are generally summarized herein as follows:

Schematic/Conceptual Design Phase: Review program and engineering documents; refine and confirm programming needs; develop conceptual site studies, preliminary building layout and floor plans; collaborate with Pre-Construction Service Provider for cost/benefit analyses of building type, systems and materials; prepare a building code analysis; identify a Project deliverables schedule; coordinate meetings and/or presentations with all required regulatory agencies including the BUSD and City of Burbank..

Design Development Phase: Finalize programming for site development and building floor plans; prepare interior and exterior sections, elevations and finishes; specify primary building systems; prepare preliminary specifications; coordinate voice & data and security system requirements with City departments; provide independent cost estimate and collaboration; prepare architectural presentation materials; submit construction documents for preliminary plan check review; coordinate meetings and/or presentations with required regulatory agencies including BUSD and the City of Burbank..

Construction Document Phase: Prepare complete and coordinated construction documents through the plan check review and permit approval process; coordinate design requirements with City support departments for voice & data and security systems; collaborate in developing the Bid Documents and coordinate final meetings and/or presentations with required regulatory agencies including BUSD and the City of Burbank.

Bidding & Award Development Phase: Participate in bid evaluation and general contractor pre-qualification; prepare pre-bid addenda; and collaborate in the Bidding Development and acceptance process.

Construction Administration & Post Occupancy Phase: Provide comprehensive on-site support services to facilitate timely execution of construction activities; schedule periodic site meetings; prepare meeting minutes; monitor Project for plans and specification compliance; process Request for Information responses; perform submittal reviews; process change order requests and payment applications; prepare Punch List and acceptance inspections; prepare final as-built plans; provide post-occupancy services, including inspections and "de-bugging."

Specific Included Services: Specific services included within WLC�s Scope of Services and Fee and generally considered above and beyond generally accepted basic architectural services include:

• Civil engineering design
• Food service planning, Special acoustic treatments, Audio-visual systems, Security System, New furniture selection and specifications, Information Technology specifications and construction documents, LEED Certification to Silver Rating²
• Presentation Model
• Typical Interior and Exterior Signage³
• Landscape Design
• Collaboration in developing the Bid Documents
• Presentations to City Council, Steering Committee, BUSD
• Reimbursable expenses.⁴

Generally Excluded Services: Services excluded from WLC�s Fee and not customarily furnished in accordance with generally accepted architectural practices include:

• Voice/Data and security system design⁵
• Fire sprinkler system design⁶
• Offsite Civil Engineering Services
• Traffic Studies
• Existing furniture inventory
• Custom casework design
• Artwork selection and layout
• Interior landscape design
• Traffic studies
• Geo-technical investigations and topographic surveys,
• Environmental Impact Report preparation, hazardous materials investigation and mitigation

While these services are excluded from WLC�s Fee, they are included in the overall budget.

A Lump Sum Fee of $398,985 was negotiated for the project services described above and more specifically detailed within the PSA. The Fee represents approximately 9.4% of the estimated $4,250,000 construction costs⁷ and is within the industry-accepted range and norm of eight to eleven percent (8% � 11%) for professional architectural design and engineering services.

Staff recommends City Council approval of the Professional Services Agreement (PSA) between the City of Burbank and Wolff Lang Christopher Architects Inc. (WLC) to provide architectural design, specialty consulting, and related engineering services for the South San Fernando Park Project, Phase 1 (SSP-1) and to authorize execution of the PSA.

¹  Attachment A represents a copy of the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued July 15, 2002 to eleven (11) architectural firms identified by the Committee. Responses were received July 30, 2002 from ten (10) respondents and a short list of four (4) firms generated whose Proposal and potential service capabilities best reflected the City�s needs.

²  A budget amount of $71,050 was established to address these specialty-consultant design services, if required, and is included within WLC�s Lump Sum Fee.