Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

La Jolla lifeguard tower rife with cost overruns

Baby bird, seal-pupping, and bad waste pump blamed for budget surprises

The new La Jolla lifeguard tower
The new La Jolla lifeguard tower

City officials are blaming seal pupping and a baby seagull for a portion of the months-long delay and a near million-dollar cost overrun that plagued construction of a posh new lifeguard station in the city's wealthiest community.

"Total estimated project cost as of January 27, 2017, was $4,324,773 which was an increase of 21 percent over the beginning project budget of $3,591,481," says a September 19 city audit report regarding the La Jolla Children's Pool Lifeguard Station. Contractor Stronghold Engineering, Inc. of Riverside required three years to complete the project.

Examples of contract changes that added time and money to the project

"The original Stronghold Engineering, Inc. authorized contract amount was $2,707,127 with a project duration of 220 working days," says the audit, but that turned out to be overly optimistic.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Over the life of the contract, change orders and contingency fund authorizations were used to charge over $575,000 and add 281 working days to the Stronghold Engineering contract."

One key problem, auditors say, was the failure of the city to anticipate delays caused by the nearby presence of a longstanding harbor seal colony, the disturbance and harassment of which is banned by federal law.

"The construction schedule was halted by three seal pupping moratoriums lasting from December 15th to June 1st in 2014, 2015, and 2016," says the audit.

In addition, per the document, "After the 2014 pupping moratorium ended in May 2014, construction was further delayed 39 working days by the presence of a baby seagull on the construction site....

"Environmental monitoring fees and temporary facilities also impacted the overall cost," the audit continues. "Monitoring and temporary facility rental costs were compounding due to a lengthened construction schedule."

Bird-proofing the roof tacked on $25,000, and an "above ground macerator pump was needed to accommodate the disposal of discarded public waste items. This system was redesigned during construction and later upgraded post‐construction when the system failed."

Besides the purported acts of nature, higher costs were introduced by requests from lifeguards to upgrade the new facility with features not previously included in the construction budget.

"Lifeguard requests/requirements that were not established prior to the commencement of construction had a substantial impact on the cost and completion date of the project," according to the document.  "These requests/requirements also affected the Lifeguard Station design."

As a result, the audit says, "change orders were used to add 'contingency' amounts to the contract to offset additional contract cost which were approved by the City through a contingency fund authorization process. Seven change orders and 34 contingency fund authorizations were processed for the design‐build contract.

"These change orders were 21 percent of the original contract amount and exceeded the 10 percent threshold identified in the Institute of Internal Auditing 'Blueprint to Construction Auditing.'"

Compounding the project's woes, say auditors, "the building exterior is showing signs of rust. According to Public Works, Stronghold Engineering, Inc. has since cleaned and recoated the exterior steel in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations."

"Going forward, a strict maintenance protocol is needed to slow the impact of saltwater on the steel exterior components of the Lifeguard Station."

Concludes the report, "Public Works used a method of project delivery — design-build — that was not the traditional method for the City. In this type of project delivery, one entity provides engineering design and construction services.

"The Lifeguard Station and public restrooms [were] a challenging project that was built in an environmentally sensitive location which had to meet community expectations as well as lifeguard requirements.

"Some of these issues could have been identified earlier in the design process and reflected in the bid documents rather than identified later in the project. This would have given a better estimation of project cost for the [Request for Proposals] and may have reduced the total project cost if project duration could have been shortened."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Clikatat Ikatowi returns to the Casbah for October 8 show

Venue saw the band’s last performance over a quarter century ago
Next Article

Clikatat Ikatowi returns to the Casbah for October 8 show

Venue saw the band’s last performance over a quarter century ago
The new La Jolla lifeguard tower
The new La Jolla lifeguard tower

City officials are blaming seal pupping and a baby seagull for a portion of the months-long delay and a near million-dollar cost overrun that plagued construction of a posh new lifeguard station in the city's wealthiest community.

"Total estimated project cost as of January 27, 2017, was $4,324,773 which was an increase of 21 percent over the beginning project budget of $3,591,481," says a September 19 city audit report regarding the La Jolla Children's Pool Lifeguard Station. Contractor Stronghold Engineering, Inc. of Riverside required three years to complete the project.

Examples of contract changes that added time and money to the project

"The original Stronghold Engineering, Inc. authorized contract amount was $2,707,127 with a project duration of 220 working days," says the audit, but that turned out to be overly optimistic.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Over the life of the contract, change orders and contingency fund authorizations were used to charge over $575,000 and add 281 working days to the Stronghold Engineering contract."

One key problem, auditors say, was the failure of the city to anticipate delays caused by the nearby presence of a longstanding harbor seal colony, the disturbance and harassment of which is banned by federal law.

"The construction schedule was halted by three seal pupping moratoriums lasting from December 15th to June 1st in 2014, 2015, and 2016," says the audit.

In addition, per the document, "After the 2014 pupping moratorium ended in May 2014, construction was further delayed 39 working days by the presence of a baby seagull on the construction site....

"Environmental monitoring fees and temporary facilities also impacted the overall cost," the audit continues. "Monitoring and temporary facility rental costs were compounding due to a lengthened construction schedule."

Bird-proofing the roof tacked on $25,000, and an "above ground macerator pump was needed to accommodate the disposal of discarded public waste items. This system was redesigned during construction and later upgraded post‐construction when the system failed."

Besides the purported acts of nature, higher costs were introduced by requests from lifeguards to upgrade the new facility with features not previously included in the construction budget.

"Lifeguard requests/requirements that were not established prior to the commencement of construction had a substantial impact on the cost and completion date of the project," according to the document.  "These requests/requirements also affected the Lifeguard Station design."

As a result, the audit says, "change orders were used to add 'contingency' amounts to the contract to offset additional contract cost which were approved by the City through a contingency fund authorization process. Seven change orders and 34 contingency fund authorizations were processed for the design‐build contract.

"These change orders were 21 percent of the original contract amount and exceeded the 10 percent threshold identified in the Institute of Internal Auditing 'Blueprint to Construction Auditing.'"

Compounding the project's woes, say auditors, "the building exterior is showing signs of rust. According to Public Works, Stronghold Engineering, Inc. has since cleaned and recoated the exterior steel in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations."

"Going forward, a strict maintenance protocol is needed to slow the impact of saltwater on the steel exterior components of the Lifeguard Station."

Concludes the report, "Public Works used a method of project delivery — design-build — that was not the traditional method for the City. In this type of project delivery, one entity provides engineering design and construction services.

"The Lifeguard Station and public restrooms [were] a challenging project that was built in an environmentally sensitive location which had to meet community expectations as well as lifeguard requirements.

"Some of these issues could have been identified earlier in the design process and reflected in the bid documents rather than identified later in the project. This would have given a better estimation of project cost for the [Request for Proposals] and may have reduced the total project cost if project duration could have been shortened."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lost Abbey finds a new way

Best drinking in San Diego
Next Article

The ups and downs of Cel Cerro on a bike

Best outdoors times
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader