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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-04-04 City CouncilTO: City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Repor HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: Public Works DATE: SUBJECT: April 4, 1996 CMR:216:96 Construction Impact of New Project at 424 University Avenue. REQUEST This is an informational report on a private development project located at 424 University Avenue. The purpose of the report is to make Council aware of the construction impacts this project will have on University Avenue. POLICY IMPLICATIONS This informational report does not contain any changes to existing City policies. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On September 21, 1995 the Architectural Review Board (ARB) approved, with conditions, a private development project for a new 18,497 square foot retail and commercial building at 424 University Avenue. The project will involve demolishing the existing seismically deficient building and constructing a new four story structure on the site. One of the development conditions requires the submittal of a logistics plan to address construction impacts and corresponding measures to eliminate or minimize these impacts. A critical element of the logistics plan deals with access to the site for demolition and construction activities. The owner initially submitted a plan to stage demolition and construction activities using access from the rear of the site. However, in order to provide such access, it was necessary to obtain an agreement with Union Bank, the owner of the property adjacent to the rear of the 424 University Avenue site (See Exhibit A). To date, Bank representatives and the owners of 424 University Avenue have been unable reach such an agreement. Although 424 University Avenue has an existing 10 foot wide CMR:216:96 Page 1 of 4 ingress/egress access easement across Union Bank’s parking lot, it is legally questionable as to whether it can be used for construction access activities. In any event, the easement is neither large enough nor in a suitable location for accommodating construction storage and circulation. Having failed to reach agreement with the Bank after several weeks of negotiations, the owner of the 424 University Avenue property recently requested approval of a street work permit in order to proceed with construction as soon as possible. As a necessary second choice to the rear access, the Public Works Department is proceeding to issue the street permit with construction access from University Avenue, the only other option available. If for some reason the parties are able to reach agreement on the easements necessary to construct the building from the side and rear of 424 University Avenue, City Council will be advised. Following is a description of the work under the street permit which is divided into three phases: Demolition and Excavation Phase (5-6 weeks) Trucks will remove demolition and excavated material from the site at the rate of 3-4 trucks per day. These occurrences should not detain traffic or pedestrians on University Avenue for more than five minutes at a time while the truck driver backs a vehicle into the building floor area to accept debris and spoils. (The process will be reversed upon leaving the site.) Pedestrians will be routed through a protected canopy area at all times except when trucks are entering or leaving the site. Four parking spaces will be used by the contractor during this phase. Concrete Pouring Phase (approximately 1 week) During this phase, approximately 400 cubic yards of concrete will be poured for the foundation and floors, utilizing concrete delivery trucks at the rate of 15 per day. Trucks will be located within the four space parking lane adjacent to the curb. Pedestrians will continue to be routed within a canopy area, along a portion of the sidewalk area, similar to demolition and excavation phase. Steel Erection Phase (8 weeks) Initially, a mobile crane will be located within the foot-print area of the new building and the structure will be erected from this position. Steel will be unloaded from a delivery trailer parked on University Avenue. For safety reasons, CMR:216:96 Page 2 of 4 pedestrians will be temporarily rerouted across the street, but only during the three to four hour unloading period. During the unloading, traffic on University Avenue will be rerouted toward the north side of the street. Parking spaces on the north side of the street will be removed to accommodate the realigned traffic flow. Unloading of the steel will be scheduled between 5:00a.m. and 9:00a.m. For the remainder of the time, pedestrians will utilize the canopy area located within the existing sidewalk area. Later during the steel erection phase of the project, the crane will be located clear of the building, and a portion of the machine will extend into the existing travel lanes. This new crane position will permit the facade of the building to be constructed. As before, the sidewalk area will be closed between the hours of 5:00a.m. and 9:00a.m. during the actual unloading of the steel, and pedestrians will be rerouted to the opposite side of the street. Steel will be stockpiled onto the sidewalk area. At this point, pedestrians will return to the south side of University Avenue and be rerouted safely around the crane. During the entire two to three day unloading and steel erection process, traffic on University Avenue will be temporarily rerouted toward the north side of University Avenue. Existing parking spaces on the north side of the street will be removed in order to accommodate the realigned traffic flow of University Avenue. At night, parking and the pedestrian canopy will be restored. The contractor will be required to follow a City approved traffic control plan which regulates the location of signs, cones and flagpersons. Work is expected to start in early April and finish by December 1996. The Public Works Department will require the contractor to restore the sidewalk area before the start of the Christmas shopping season and maintain a six foot wide pedestrian canopy along the frontage. The contractor advises that the front of the building will be substantially complete by then and offsite traffic impacts, such as rerouting traffic flow will not be required. Merchants nearby will be notified periodically by way of a bulletin, informing them of ongoing construction activities. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact to the City. The contractor is required to post a bond for $10,000 to protect the City against any accidental damage to City improvements such as curb and gutter, sidewalks,and pavement. CMR:216:96 Page 3 of 4 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT An environmental assessment is not required for this informational report. ATTACHMENT Plan of site PREPARED BY: George Bagdon, Assistant Director of Public Works DEPARTMENT HEAD REVIEW: CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: GLENN S. ROBERTS Director of Public Works as~~r cc: Susan Frank, Chamber of Commerce CMR:216:96 Page 4 of 4 Exhibit UNIVERSITY AVENUE !/////I /I /!/I II/I IIII///I /I I//II/ #400 Union Bank A SCALE1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Feet