Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway Contract Amendment:

1. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to execute a contract amendment with Alta Planning + Design, subject to approval by Agency Counsel, to increase the contract by a total amount of $282,478 from $1,084,008 to $1,366,486 to provide additional environmental review and preliminary design services;
2. APPROVE the use of Measure X funds budgeted to the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway Project;
3. FIND that this amendment is justified as a sole source due to the efficiencies that support award to the existing consultant as a logical follow-on to work already in progress under a competitively awarded contract; and
4. AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to take such other further actions as may be necessary to fulfill the intent of the contract amendment, including approvals of future modifications or amendments that do not significantly alter the scope of work, or change the approved agreement term or amount.

TAMC awarded a contract to Alta on August 22, 2018 for environmental review and preliminary design of the FORTAG trail. Five months later in January 2019, the Transportation Agency captured $10.3 million from a highly competitive state Active Transportation Program grant to construct one segment of the FORTAG trail through Del Rey Oaks. Grant requirements and development uncertainty around the Marina north loop are driving the need to increase the scope of services, as explained below:

1. Federal Environmental Review:
The segment of the FORTAG trail that will be funded by grant will be included in the state Environmental Impact Report; however, federal environmental review is also required for this segment, under the terms of the grant. Federal environmental review was not included in the original scope and the additional work to accomplish federal review is included in this contract amendment.

2. Carlton Drive /Plumas Avenue Link to Del Rey Woods Elementary School:
The Active Transportation Program grant will fund construction of a 1.5-mile segment of the FORTAG trail from the Fremont Boulevard and Canyon Del Rey Boulevard (SR 218) intersection to the Del Rey Woods Elementary School in Seaside. The trail will abut SR 218 near the Safeway shopping center before entering Work Memorial Park and Del Rey Park via Angelus Way in Del Rey Oaks. The trail will then cross SR 218 and travel northeast on Carlton Drive and Plumas Avenue to Del Rey Woods Elementary School.

A new trail spur connecting the FORTAG segment in Del Rey Oaks to Del Rey Woods Elementary School on Carlton Drive and Plumas Avenue was not included in the original FORTAG environmental document scope of work but was added to the grant proposal to better meet Safe Routes to School goals. The grant-funded segment of the trail also requires analysis of three options to cross SR 218 near Carlton Drive, including a tunnel, roundabout, and at-grade crossing.

3. Trail Alignment Uncertainty in Marina North Loop:
The original scope of work required environmental evaluation of 27 miles of the FORTAG trail. While the length of the trail to be constructed is not increasing substantially, an additional 13 miles of trail alignment options on the north loop near the Marina Municipal Airport and Cal State University Monterey Bay campus, as shown in the attached FORTAG alignment map, require evaluation. These additional options cover the uncertainty of multiple parcels with different property owners, including the City of Marina (Marina Station), Armstrong Ranch area, Monterey Regional Waste Management District, and Monterey One Water Treatment Plant. These options add 515 acres of technical study area to the original scope of work. Evaluating these options will help in the development of a feasible alignment to connect the northern loop to the existing Monterey Bay Scenic Coastal Trail.

4. Accelerating the Schedule to June 2020:
The Active Transportation Program grant includes a timely-use-of-funds provision that stipulates the project environmental document must be approved by the California Transportation Commission in June 2020 to avoid forfeiting the $10.3 million in grant funding. The TAMC Board of Directors must certify the FORTAG Environmental Impact Report at their March 2020 meeting in order to meet this deadline. The original project schedule assumed approximately 17 months for environmental review. Accelerating the schedule by 7 months will meet the grant requirement.

The specific details of the additional work are contained in the attached Additional Services document.  Staff is asking for Board approval to amend the contract with Alta Planning + Design for the reasons explained above.