The Goleta City Council will be deciding how to move forward with the Hollister Avenue Old Town Interim Striping Project during a special meeting Monday evening, as well as discussing the city’s five-year capital improvement program.
Earlier this month, the council heard options for the interim striping project after construction bids came in more than twice the engineer’s estimate of $1.8 million, with Granite Construction submitting a bid of about $4 million and Toro Enterprise submitting a bid of over $4.4 million.
Some of the options staff proposed to the council included awarding the project to Granite with the lowest bid — which would lead to about $3.6 million less being available for other capital improvement projects — or further delaying the project by rejecting both bids and rebidding next year.
Staff also said the striping project could be incorporated in with another existing project in some way.
During the Oct. 3 meeting, the council decided to wait for the special meeting on Monday to make a final decision, but most council members seemed to lean towards continuing the project sooner to “prioritize safety.”
The project involves restriping Hollister Avenue between Fairview and Kinman avenues to reduce travel lanes from two lanes to one lane in each direction, adding back-in angled parking, and installing bike lanes in each direction.
The city is also planning to implement 90-minute parking limits and upgrade traffic signals with the project.
According to the staff report for Monday’s meeting, city staff are recommending that the council reject all bids for the project and negotiate a construction change order to Project Connect — another capital improvement project that currently includes the Hollister Avenue bridge and roundabout projects, and the Eckwill Street and Fowler Road extension projects — to incorporate the Old Town Interim Striping Project.
The council is also set to award the construction contract for Project Connect on Monday, with the lowest bid being Security Paving’s bid of over $62 million.
The staff report adds that staff will work with Security Paving to have the Old Town striping project be the first order of work, and that this approach will result in cost savings between $500,000 and $1 million.
Work on the striping project would also be expected to begin in April 2024 with this approach.
The total project cost for Project Connect is currently $100,630,000 and the total cost for the Hollister Avenue Old Town Interim Striping project is over $5 million. Between the two projects, about $27 million are currently unfunded.
Some funding sources city staff are proposing Monday include transferring the unassigned balance from the city’s General Fund, temporarily reassigning Measure B Public Works appropriations, transferring $8.4 million in Measure A regional funds from the Goleta Highway 101 overcrossing project to the Goleta Transportation Circulation Improvements Project, deferring other projects, contingency borrowing, and other financing options.
The City Council is also set to receive a presentation about other projects in the 5-Year Capital Improvement Program, which includes 12 projects that are obligated to be delivered over the next five years.
These projects include Project Connect; the Hollister Avenue Old Town Interim Striping Project; Hollister Avenue Class I bike path lighting; the San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path; traffic signal upgrades; the Ellwood Mesa/Sperling Preserve Open Space Monarch Butterfly Habitat Management Plan; Storke Road/Hollister Avenue transit, bike and pedestrian, and median improvements; San Jose Creek Channel fish passage modification; repairing the Cathedral Oaks Crib Wall; Ellwood Beach Drive drainage improvements; Evergreen Park Drive drainage improvements; and full trash capture.
More information on the items included in Monday’s Goleta City Council meeting is available in the staff report here.
The meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 130 Cremona Drive.
Monday’s meeting will also be live streamed, which can be viewed on the city’s website here, and information on providing public comment in person or via Zoom is available in the meeting’s agenda here.