Memorandum
Date: March 26, 2024
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Lars Ewing, Public Services Director
Subject: A) Receive Update on Armory Repurposing Project and Provide Direction to Staff for Next Steps
B) Consideration of Amendment Two to the Agreement between the County of Lake and Dewberry Architects, Inc., for Architectural Engineering Design Services
In April 2022, your Board approved the final amendment to the property exchange agreement with the State of California for a land swap of vacant County-owned property in Clearlake in exchange for the California Army National Guard Armory adjacent to the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport. The armory had been vacant since approximately 2016 as part of a cost-reduction program for the National Guard. The property exchange was intended to provide a dual public benefit - to help meet affordable housing needs through a future housing development on the land in Clearlake, and to provide the Lake County Sheriff’s Department with an expanded space and an improved operations and administration center location.
In April 2023 your Board approved an architectural engineering agreement with Dewberry Architects for the design of an adaptive reuse of the armory for the Sheriff’s Department. Dewberry’s initial scope of work was to complete the preliminary phase of design, which included an evaluation of the existing armory building, analysis of Lake County Sheriff’s Department operations and staffing levels, and recommended future staffing and facility needs to accommodate community growth projections over a 20-30 year projection. Renovation recommendations were then developed to incorporate best practices related to law enforcement facility design and in support of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department mission. Specific design deliverables from Dewberry included a facility assessment, a staffing needs analysis, a space needs program, three conceptual design options, estimates of probable construction costs, and a schematic design based on the preferred concept. The project report and schematic design are included with this agenda packet.
There are sufficient appropriations in the County’s FY 23-24 budget to fund the final design development for the armory, specifically in budget unit 1785, Public Safety Facilities. Revenue for the appropriations is generated through American Rescue Plan Act State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Therefore, staff requested a proposal from Dewberry for the remaining design work, and prepared a draft contract amendment which incorporates that scope of work into their agreement.
Discussion
The preliminary construction cost estimate for the armory is approximately $20 million, and there is not an identified source of funding for construction. Built infrastructure project designs such as the armory run the risk of becoming outdated or even obsolete as more time passes from the completion of design to construction. Consequently, even though the project is fully funded through design, the decision to advance the project to 100% design requires your Board’s input.
Public agencies have several options when funding capital improvements. The County of Lake has historically completed capital projects on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, either with County general funds, or by securing state/federal funding, or through grants, or some combination of the three. However, in absence of grants or state/federal funding, larger capital projects often require more money than what can be made available from the County general fund. Another option available to local jurisdictions is debt financing; however, the County has rarely, if ever, implemented or even considered debt financing for projects.
Specific to capital improvement funds for this project, your Board included a request for $10 million of construction funding as one of the seven projects included with the County’s FY 2025 Community Project Funding (CPF) application to Congressman Thompson. However, it is an uncertain source of funding with many other jurisdictions competing for CPF funds.
Staff recommends your Board approve the amendment with Dewberry Architects to complete the project design, and direct staff to research and prepare a construction funding proposal and report back to your Board with recommendations to complete the full project.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: __________ Amount Budgeted: Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
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☒ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☒ Disaster Preparedness, Prevention, Recovery
☒ Economic Development ☒ Infrastructure ☐ County Workforce
☒ Community Collaboration ☒ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action: 1) Provide Direction to Staff; and 2) Approve Amendment Two to the Agreement between the County of Lake and Dewberry Architects, Inc., for Architectural Engineering Design Services for a revised amount of $1,324,455.00, and authorize the Chair to sign