Marin awards contract for new fire headquarters
Marin residents will soon be getting a clearer picture of the county's plans for building an $83 million fire headquarters at the site of the former San Geronimo Golf Course.
Supervisors approved a $3.4 million contract with San Francisco-based McCarthy Building Companies Inc. and COAR Design Group, an architecture firm in Santa Rosa, to design and construct the project. The contract allows for an additional payment of $309,000, if necessary.
In the past, the county has used a traditional design-bid-build construction method, in which the project is fully designed first, then advertised for construction bids. The lowest responsible bidder is typically awarded the contract.
With the firehouse project, the county, for the first time, is taking an alternative "design-build approach," selecting a designer and builder before setting scope and price.
"With your approval today, we start a project that is the largest project that the county has undertaken since the construction of the Civic Center," Fabiola Guillen, the county's assistant director of public works, told supervisors at their July 7 meeting.
Expectations for the project, however, have already shifted slightly. An environmental study commissioned by the county previously examined the feasibility of a 20,000-square-foot firehouse and firefighter training facilities.
The plan envisioned repurposing the golf course clubhouse as the administrative offices for the fire department. The plan included warehouse/storage space; equipment maintenance and vehicle storage facilities; and training facilities that would feature a five-story, 45-foot-tall training tower.
The study prompted comments from the community that the proposed fire station facilities would be visually prominent, unattractive, "industrial" in nature and out of character with the rural setting of the San Geronimo Valley.
Since then, the county has decided to move its administrative offices and dispatch center from the Woodacre headquarters to county offices at 1600 Los Gamos Drive in San Rafael.
"That is actually already under construction," said Kevin Yeager, a Marin County deputy fire chief. Yeager said locating the offices at 1600 Los Gamos Drive would be cheaper than building in San Geronimo Valley.
"That was part of the cost-cutting for this project," he said. "We estimate we'll probably save between $8 million and $9 million."
At a meeting held by the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group in June, fire Chief Jason Weber also suggested that the project might be altered to fit in better with the surrounding landscape.
He talked about possibly reducing the height of the training tower and breaking the project into several smaller parts to reduce its overall mass. He said the former golf clubhouse might be demolished instead of renovated. Weber was traveling and could not be reached for comment.
Yeager said, "What we're saying is we want to right-size the training area to what we need in order to train everyone. Rope training, in order to do cliff rescues, requires a certain number of feet in order to train on it, but that doesn't mean it has to be in a gigantic tower necessarily."
Guillen told supervisors that over the next five to six months, McCarthy and COAR Design will produce a schematic design and conduct an analysis of the site. After that, in phase two of the project, they will deliver final design construction drawings and construction cost estimates.
The county's plan is to begin construction by next summer and complete the project by December 2028. Public works managers have estimated that each month of delay would result in $250,000 in cost escalations.
One of the reasons for using the design/build approach is expected cost savings. Kitchell Corp., which the county hired to evaluate the decision, estimated the design/build model would shave more than eight months off the delivery time and save $2.35 million.
"I do think it's the proper way to move forward," said Supervisor Dennis Rodoni. "In my experience of over 35 years of being a contractor, the smartest clients knew that time was money."
Guillen said there will be an effort made to solicit community input during the design phase.
In a statement, Weber said, "We appreciate the community's continued partnership and look forward to working closely together as the project moves forward."
Not all members of the community are supportive.
"This request must be denied because the San Geronimo Valley community plan does not allow a fire station on this property," San Anselmo resident Philip Snell said at the meeting. "The San Geronimo Valley community plan only allows a golf course on this property."
The county's acquisition of the 157-acre golf course turned into a seven-year saga due to opposition from golfers and others who opposed the county's plans to acquire the property for public recreational use and for repair and preservation of wildlife and fish habitats at the site.
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Opponents qualified a measure for the March 2020 ballot that would have required voter approval for any change in the primary golf course use of the property, but the proposition failed to get the majority support it needed.
Michael McClennan, a San Rafael resident who opposed the closing of the golf course, urged the supervisors not to approve the design/build contract. McClennan said the approach would not allow a check on costs, "regardless of what has been stated by staff."
Responding to Snell's objection, which was elaborated on in a letter to supervisors, County Executive Derek Johnson noted the Planning Commission determined in May that the firehouse plan is consistent with the Marin Countywide Plan.
John McEntagart, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 551, said, "We're looking forward to helping build this project."
In January supervisors approved a project labor agreement that requires contractors and subcontractors who bid on the project to give priority to hiring workers who live in Marin County; pay prevailing wages and benefits; use state-approved joint apprenticeship programs; and forgo strikes or work slowdowns.
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