Supervisors approve agreement with CCC to construct river park trail

A multi-use trail within the future San Luis Rey River Park will be constructed by the California Conservation Corps (CCC) and funded by the California Department of Transportation.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Jan. 11, with

Greg Cox absent due to California Coastal Commission activity, to authorize an agreement with the CCC to construct 1.5 miles of multi-use trail between Holly Lane and the vicinity of Via Montellano.

The San Luis Rey River Park will encompass approximately1,600 acres, and the linear park will stretch for approximately nine miles between the Bonsall Bridge and Interstate 15. The river park will include open space areas such as walking, bicycling, and equestrian trails along with staging areas. Approximately 20 miles of trails are expected to be built and maintained.

The open space portion will also include habitat preservation and will protect the San Luis Rey River, which is almost entirely riparian. The park will also provide active recreation facilities such as ball fields, play areas, and picnic facilities.

"We'll get there," said Supervisor Bill Horn.

Land will be acquired only from willing sellers, so the exact boundaries have not yet been determined. The county has purchased 672 acres from willing sellers, and approximately 850 acres are expected to be acquired as part of the California Department of Transportation mitigation requirements for the widening of State Route 76 between South Mission Road and Interstate 15. The county and Caltrans have worked together to coordinate the plans for the river park with the plans to widen Highway 76.

Caltrans initially planned to construct the trail between Holly Lane and Via Montellano as part of a Memorandum of Understanding with the county on the widening of State Route 76, and Caltrans included that trail in the agency's environmental documentation for the highway widening project. Caltrans and the county subsequently agreed to having Caltrans fund an appropriate cost for the trail with the county taking responsibility for construction as well as maintenance, although the Caltrans mitigation agreement includes an endowment for long-term management of open space land.

In June 2015 the supervisors approved the acceptance of $260,000 from Caltrans to construct a 1.5-mile multi-use trail on the south side of the river between the Old Bonsall Bridge and what is known as the "model airplane site".

"We appreciate that," Horn said.

The 2015 acceptance of the Caltrans funding did not include any construction actions, so the county's Department of Parks and Recreation considered various factors for construction before returning to the county supervisors to request a construction contract. The Department of Parks and Recreation recommended that the county contract with the California Conservation Corps to build the trail.

The California Conservation Corps is a state agency whose mission is to provide educational skills to young men and women. The California Labor Code exempts the CCC from paying prevailing wages to its workers, and CCC participants have previously built trails determined to be of high quality.

If the county had utilized a competitive bid for the trail construction the contractor would have been required to pay prevailing wages, so a competitive bid for contractors would have been higher than the cost to contract with the CCC. Contracting directly with the CCC also eliminates the need to prepare detailed project plans and specifications prior to the contract bid process; since county staff and CCC project management will work together on the plans the cost of preparing the detailed plans and specifications is eliminated as is the time to prepare those plans. The Army Corps of Engineers permit for the trail project requires the work to begin by March 18, 2017.

The county supervisors' Jan. 11 action thus included a finding that competitive bidding would be impractical and would not produce any public advantage, and the supervisors waived the competitive procurement requirement.

The Jan. 11 action also included a finding that no changes or new circumstances required an amendment to the Final Program Environmental

Impact Report. In September 2008 the Board of Supervisors approved the master plan for the river park, including the certification of the Final Program Environmental Impact Report for the master plan, and an addendum was certified in August 2011. An environmental review update checklist which was completed Dec. 2 indicated that no additional significant impacts or increased severity of previously-identified impacts would occur.

The Jan. 11 action authorized the director of the county's Department of Purchasing and Contracting to execute an agreement with the CCC after successful negotiations to determine a fair and reasonable price and to amend the agreement if needed to reflect changes to services and funding. The director of the Department of Parks and Recreation will be responsible for administering the construction agreement.

The estimated cost for the actual construction, including contingency, is $250,000. An additional $137,509 is budgeted for related costs including design, inspection, management, project administration, a Caltrans encroachment permit, and mitigation. The total $387,509 amount is funded from $112,996 of unanticipated Department of Parks and Recreation trust fund revenue and $14,513 of general fund balance in addition to the $260,000 Caltrans contribution.

Completion of the trail is expected to take place during winter 2018.