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SR-8-C (75) .... ~."?--~ S~A-r(' U n'1 t-'.'1 V~ '- Santa Monica, California AUG 1 3 i99l LUTM:CPD:PB:RCjConst.word.ppd August 13, 1991 TO: Mayor and City council FROM: City staff SUBJECT: Proposed Construction Hours Ordinance INTRODUCTION This report provides the City Council with additional information concerning revisions to the construction hours ordinance which Council will be considering on August 13, 1991. staff has concerns about the effects of such a change and therefore, prepared this memo so that the City Council can consider the following information. Alternatives to changing construction hours are outlined, including the recommendation, if the Council decides to delay the start of construction, that the Council exempt City work performed by City personnel. DISCUSSION After Council direction at the February 19, 1991 meeting, staff consulted with construction labor representatives, City maintenance crewst and the Air Quality Management District to gather comments on the proposed ordinance changes. Traffic Impacts: With the current construction hourst construction vehicles and workers are traveling just before the am peak period and leave before the pm peak period begins. By the nature of construction employment, some workers travel long - 1 - /!PIJ +0 jJ-L P,UG 1 3 \991 distances around the Los Angeles basin. The proposed changes would result in construction vehicles and workers arriving and departlng during the most congested periods of the day. This is contrary to the City I sand AQMD I S efforts to reduce traffic during the am and pm peak periods. city Maintenance Crews: work at 6:30-7:00 a.m., stations as early as 5:30 Currently, city maintenance crews begin some of whom arrive at their work a.m. A change to an 8: 00 a. m. start time would have the following direct effect on City operations: 1. street Maintenance: a) The street maintenance concrete crews currently begin a shift at 6:30 a.m. because vendors of transit-mixed concrete cannot guarantee delivery and access after 7:00 a.m. The City instituted the 6:30 a.m. shift because we were not able to procure concrete later in the day. b) Asphalt crews also begin their shift at 6:30 a.m. This start time allows for two daily deliveries of asphaltic concrete. c) The street maintenance crews are currently on a 4/10 work schedule. General Services Department staff indicates that the later start time would result in a loss of approximately 120 work hours per week due to the - 2 - lack of available materials during the work day. These work hours have a value of approximately $114,000 per year based on average wages and benefits of affected workers. d) The Street division would have to go off the compressed work week(4/10 or 9/80) in order to avoid some of the time loss noted above. This change would eliminate the 10% trip reduction achieved by those on 9/80 and 20% reduction of those on 4/10. It would eliminate the further reductions achieved through interdivision ride sharing made possible by common work hours. 2. Public Facilities Maintenance: a) Twenty three employees would have to go off compressed work hours in order to begin construction/maintenance activities after the 8:00 a.m. start time. 3. General services Department staff indicates that public works construction costs will rise by an average 5% due to the following: later start time would conflict with prevailing trade union contracts: city workers working after 5:00 p.m. will have to be paid the night differential shift pay: losing the IIlighterll vehicular traffic period during 7:00-8:00 a.m. will increase the time needed to set up for and complete projects in the public rights of way: costs of materials delivered to a work site and costs for debris removal will - 3 - increase because haulers generally prefer to avoid heavy traffic periods; and some prospective bidders will be reluctant to bld Santa Monica jobs due to restrictive time periods allowed to accomplish work. General Services Department estimates that this average 5% increase will cost the City approximately $642,000 based on all CIP proj ects budgeted this year. This is broken down to $40,000 for projects performed by city personnel (3% of such projects) and $602,000 in projects built under contract (5%) . Staff conducted an informal survey of contractors used by the City to determine their reactions to earlier construction hours. Of the ten contractors called, one indicated they would no longer bid city work, two indicated no change to costs, and seven indicated higher bid prices. Five firms indicated increases ranging from 3% to up to 20%. The 5% used for this staff report analysis is a conservative (i.e. low) estimate based on contractors' responses. 4. street work will result in more lane closures due to construction work in the p.m. peak period (3-7p.m.). These closures will result in greater congestion during these hours. 5. The result of these employees going off compressed work week schedules would mean that the City would lose its substantial progress toward an Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) of 1.5 at the City Yards (now at 1.49) and have to resubmit a - 4 - Regulation XV Plan to AQMD for this work site. (This is the plan for which the City just won a Clear Air Award from AQMD) . Not maintaining our Regulation XV progress would put the City in jeopardy of sUffering the consequences of sanctions imposed by the AQMD which could include fines. (The AQMD is authorized to impose fines of up to $25,000 per day.) If the City chose to eliminate the compressed work week, an amendment to our Regulation XV Plan would have to be approved by AQMD. That amendment would have to show how the City is replacing the compressed work week with other measures equally successful in increasing AVR. The city has not been able to find such measures. Construction Trade Issues: The trade union representatives contacted did not support the change from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. on weekdays. Work crews would still be required to work an eight hour period at any given job site. The change in hours would not reduce the time devoted to construction activities but would require crews to start and end work later in the day. History of Complaints Received by the City Construction Hotline: Based upon the complaints received on the City's construction hours hotline, the present hours of construction do not appear to be a problem. While very few complaints are actually received (less than 10 complaints between November, 1989, and the present) - 5 - the maj ori ty are about non-construction related noise such as leaf blowers and other maintenance equipment not associated with construction. The problem exists with contractors who do not comply with the hours, and make deliveries and noise before 7:00 a.m. ALTERNATIVES staff has reviewed several alternatives to the blanket change on construction hours. These alternatives include: exempting City projects from the change by both City personnel and contractors; exempting only City personnel operations; exempting construction of low and moderate income housing projects; prohibiting construction crews from entering residential neighborhoods ~ and changin9 construction hours for any projects within 500 feet of a residential zone. staff believes that prohibiting construction workers, deliveries to construction sites and generally any construction related traffic from residential neighborhoods until the 7:00 a.m. start time currently in effect will go a long way to minimizing the noise, traffic and other early morning annoyances of a construction proj ect. Building and safety Inspectors can be assigned to begin a shift at 6:30 a.m. to verify that construction rules are met. Therefore, staff believes that such measures would protect residential neighborhoods. However, if the Council is of a mind to delay the allowed construction periOd - 6 - by one hour, staff recommends that projects conducted by city personnel. the delay outlined above in this exemption. the Council exempt City The fiscal implications of memorandum justifies this Other exemptions such as changing hours in residential neighborhoods or exemptions for low and moderate income housing would tend to create confusion both for the construction industry and for residential neighbors who may not know the nature of a project or who live in commercial zones where earlier start times would be permitted. BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT Adoption of a delay in construction hours will probably add to the cost of construction projects as identified above. The later start time will add $154,000 to projects constructed by City personnel and $602,000 to City projects done under contract. Exempting City personnel will mitigate this impact. RECOMMENDATION I f the Council determines it wishes to delay the construction period, it is recommended that City projects conducted by City personnel be exempt from such restrictions. - 7 - Prepared By: Paul V. Berlant, Land Use and Transportation Director Renee Cowhig, Supervising Zoning Inspector Karen Pickett, Transportation Management Coordinator craig Perkins, Admininstrative & Environmental Services Manager - 8 - CA:RMM:rmd1234b/hpca1/pc city council Meeting 8-13-91 "'.. ~ j-<t.. ~;" T1~CUI1(j>d;:~ AUG 1 J /99) Santa Monica, California SUPPLEMENTAL STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor and city Council FROM: city Attorney SUBJECT: Ordinance Amending Santa Monica Municipal Code sections 4313 and 4314 Modifying Construction Hours The construction hours ordinances attached to the Staff Report previously transmitted to you both contain a typographical error. In section 4314 (e) (3), the word "printing" should be "painting." PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, city Attorney /JD,D h p-~ AUG 1 J 1)::11