Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael Callagy, County Manager
Adam Ely, Project Development Unit Director
Subject: Purchase of an ATV for Cordilleras Fire Protection
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing the purchase of an All-Terrain Vehicle for Cordilleras Fire Protection in the amount of $40,521.
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BACKGROUND:
The Cordilleras Project, located at 200 Edmonds Road, will replace the existing facility, a converted tuberculosis hospital that is over 60 years old, with multiple new residential facilities that meet modern standards of care for individuals who have serious mental illness. The new facilities will provide clients a smaller scale, homelike setting that will be conducive to treatment and recovery. Facilities will include four MHRC buildings, each housing 16 residents, a co-housing unit for 57 residents, a multi-use campus center, and a variety of healing outdoor areas.
The Project will preserve the beauty and serenity of the existing natural environment while providing a safe and attractive setting for patient care and family engagement. Cordilleras is designed to operate at Zero Net Energy (ZNE) and to achieve certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
On November 17, 2020 this Board adopted Resolution No. 077863, establishing a total budget for the Project of $155,000,000. On November 18, 2020, the Project Development Unit (PDU) issued a Notice to Proceed (NTP) for construction on the project. Construction is currently ongoing and is in the mass grading and site utility installation phase.
DISCUSSION:
To ensure adequate fire water storage and fire water pressure, as part of permitting for the Project, San Mateo County Fire Department required supplementation of the existing 150,000-gallon water tank with a new 286,000-gallon tank. The permitted plan is to install the new tank immediately adjacent to the old tank.
The existing tank is accessible by a dirt emergency access road that winds up the steep hillside from the Cordilleras site. As part of installation of the new tank, the access road requires improvements. Current requirements proscribe, inter alia: (1) a road with 15 feet of vertical clearance and an unobstructed width of 20 feet; (2) a non-skid asphalt or concrete surface; (3) grades 15-20% limited to 150 feet in length; and (4) specific minimum turnaround clearance at the dead end where the water tank sits.
The current roadway does not meet these requirements as the road is approximately 12 feet wide, the surface is dirt, the entirety of the road ascends at a 20% grade, and there is insufficient platform for a large fire truck to turnaround at the water tank.
Meeting these requirements on a steep hillside in a narrow and constrained canyon setting would require extensive civil work including but not limited to: (1) construction of new retaining walls on uphill and downhill sides of a new roadway; (2) a complete realignment of the roadway and creation of switch backs cutting deep into the hillside to reduce grades; (3) substantial mass grading in an environmentally sensitive zone; and (4) a costly increase in the size of the water tank site pad and surrounding area. This major civil work would have increased project risk and required extensive habitat disturbance and associated mitigation. PDU staff estimated costs of this work to be approximately $4,000,000.
Given the foregoing costs, difficulty of work, and the fact that a non-fire truck could perform necessary emergency functions at the water tank site, the PDU and San Mateo County Fire Department agreed to alternative means to meet the intent of the requirements while providing the same safety results. PDU filed various Alternative Means and Methods Requests (AMMRs), which allowed for improvements to the roadway, including additional permeable base materials, and the provision of an appropriate All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that could navigate the road as necessary. The selected ATV costs $40,521. To ensure ongoing safety, San Mateo County Fire Department will maintain ownership of the ATV after project completion.
Because provision of an ATV would provide the same safety results, while reducing costs by approximately $3,960,000, the PDU recommends approval of the ATV reimbursement of $40,521.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The amount of the ATV will not exceed $40,521. The purchase of the ATV will be made through the Fire Protection Services Budget Unit and reimbursed from the General Fund Major Capital projects budget attributed to the Cordilleras Health Campus Project. The funding for this project has been included in the Fiscal Year 20-21 budget.