Salinas Rail Extension Property Appraisals

1. APPROVE issuing a Request for Proposals to solicit consultants to conduct real property review appraisal services for the Salinas Rail Extension Project;
2. DIRECT staff to release the Request for Proposals to potential consultants, not to exceed $15,000 as approved in the fiscal year 2016/17 Agency budget; and
3. AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to execute contract amendment #2 with Overland, Pacific & Cutler, Inc. and make a sole-source finding to increase the not-to-exceed amount of the contract by $41,000 to update property appraisals under the current appraisal and acquisition services contract, using Traffic Congestion Relief Program funds.

The Transportation Agency has been negotiating with property owners near the Salinas Rail Station to acquire necessary parcels for the extension of rail service to Salinas.  Due to protracted negotiations by the sellers, in order to move to the next phase of negotiations, the Agency needs to prepare updated property appraisals, which are legally required to be reviewed by a qualified second appraiser.

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County, as the local lead agency, grantee agency and owner of the Salinas Rail Extension project, proposes to extend passenger rail service from Santa Clara County south to Salinas. The current project proposal would function as an extension of existing state-sponsored Capitol Corridor passenger rail service.  The project provides an alternative to the highly congested US 101 corridor to access to jobs, education, and health care, and improves interregional transportation and air quality. It also promotes mixed-use, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, livable communities and economic growth around stations.

The Salinas Rail Extension Kick Start project requires acquisition of nine parcels near the Salinas Rail Station in order to construct an extension of Lincoln Avenue, improve parking and access to the rail station, and to build a train layover facility.  It is critical that all the acquisition proceed according to all applicable state and federal laws.  The project area primarily covers the properties along West Market Street and Station Place that will be needed for additional parking once rail service begins.  The Transportation Agency's right-of-way acquisition consultant, Overland, Pacific & Cutler, has secured property appraisals and the Agency has presented offer letters to the property owners.  However, negotiations on several of these properties have slowed, and the Agency is required to update the appraisal documents to advance to the next stage of negotiations.

With the proposed contract amendment #2, the primary property appraisals would be updated by Overland, Pacific & Cutler.  Since the appraisal services department of Overland, Pacific & Cutler prepared the initial property appraisals, it will be more expeditious for them to prepare the updated reports as well, justifying the sole source nature of the contract amendment.  With updated property valuations, the Agency will be able to present revised offers to the property owners and proceed with advanced negotiations.  The contract amendment would update the Scope of Work to include the updated appraisal reports, as well as the budget for the additional appraisal work.

In addition to the property appraisals, the Agency will need to secure the services of a review appraiser to verify the property valuations and assumptions in the updated property reports.  As such, this Request for Proposals would solicit proposals for a consultant to provide right-of-way review appraisal services. The consultants would provide complete review appraisal reports that conform to the standards prescribed by the Federal and State Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Acts, the Federal Transit Administration or Federal Highway Administration procedures, and Caltrans procedures. The consultant would also be required to coordinate with the Transportation Agency’s other acquisition and legal advisors to incorporate comments into appraisals, as necessary.