Faced with a pier renovation project figured to be $1 million over budget, a group of Hermosa Beach city officials last week brainstormed ideas of how to bring the long-awaited design back down to its appropriate cost estimates in the hopes of putting the plans out to bid in March.

During its last meeting, the Hermosa Beach City Council approved an amendment to its service agreement with the architecture firm Purkiss Rose for no more than $50,000 to revise plans to the third phase of the city’s pier project.

The new changes are based on what the group of city officials – a subcommittee comprising City Manager Steve Burrell, Public Works Director Richard Morgan, Lifeguard Bob Moore, and City Councilmen Peter Tucker and Sam Edgerton – discussed and agreed upon. The proposal of what exactly the city will end up eliminating will come before the entire council for a vote later this month.

The subcommittee will explore the idea of relocating the lifeguards to a more permanent locale rather than spending the money to construct and then deconstruct temporary headquarters, which according to Tucker, is expected to cost the city approximately $200,000.

“We sat down and looked at the items in the project that were pushing the price up, and now we are going to talk to the architect about eliminating some items without costing us a fortune in redrawing the plans,” said Tucker. “One of the big things is the relocation of the lifeguards during the renovation. The initial plan was to bring in portable trailers onto the beach and pave a section of the beach so they could drive their vehicles, and so now we’re looking at some alternatives so we don’t have to do all that. I think part of the problem with the bids was that the contractors bidding on it were probably covering their responsibility in case something goes wrong with, for example, a 911 call that doesn’t go through. The city would go back and see why the system failed, and then the contractor could be held liable. So, we are recommending that we pull that item out and bid on it separately to firms that really understand communication work.”

In early January, the City Council agreed to reject the only two bids that were submitted for the project. Metro Builders & Engineers Group bid at about $4.4 million and H.A. Lewis Inc. bid around $5.4 million that were approximately $986,000 and $1.9 million, respectively, over the city’s estimates. The city priced the project at about $3.4 million.

Morgan suggested several changes, including removing the project’s observation deck which would provide $250,000 in savings; eliminating the ADA ramp to the deck which would save the city $100,000; eliminating colored concrete that would reflect $450,000 in savings; and excluding the use of colored tiles and granite in the compass rose design at the base of the pier that would save the city $300,000.

According to both Tucker and Burrell, the high price of the bids for the project was partly due to the 20-percent rise in construction costs and materials since the city began the task of designing the project. The subcommittee worked on eliminating items to the projects in order to receive a bid that will closely reflect the city’s projected figure.

“We suggested eliminating some fancy stuff that in my opinion we can do without for now. We can also come back and do improvement work which basically means we build the structure and then later add the glitz and glitter, so to speak,” said Tucker.

The City Council began voting on changes and designs for the plans in 2000 that centered on the base of the pier just west of The Strand and pier plaza. The original plans called for newly reconstructed lifeguard headquarters, a new observatory and amphitheater, and renovated bathrooms. According to current plans, the new observatory is designed to sit on the south side of the pier just east of the new lifeguard towers. It will be a circular structure with ADA-compliant walkways. An amphitheater will be erected directly across from the observatory on the north side of the pier. The plaza located in the midst of these two structures will resemble an open public square with benches and planters. The compass rose design, with tips of the rose consisting of copper and the outline comprising colored granite, will sit in the center of this plaza called Schumacher Plaza, an area named after Dr. David Schumacher and his wife, Margaret, a longtime Hermosa Beach couple who donated $1 million to the project. The City Council also agreed to use the same kind of paving on the pier plaza as a background material for the base of the pier.

“We are suggesting eliminating the handicap ramp up to the observation deck and are looking at the option of possibly eliminating the observation deck, too,” said Tucker. “If it requires a lot of redesign of the whole structure to eliminate it, then we will probably leave it and probably put some kind of a handicap elevator of sorts.”

The subcommittee also suggested nixing aesthetic materials on the observatory and the black concrete. The subcommittee would like to see a different colored concrete in place of the black paving and also decided to leave the compass rose as it was originally designed.

The city will fund the project by way of the Schumacher donation, along with monies from Tyco Ltd., which were generated by a lease contract, Proposition “A” funds and the county. The city also procured $324,000 from a grant funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board.

The first phase of the project entailed the restoration of the cracked pylons along with earthquake retrofitting while the second phase included the construction of new lighting, decks, handrails, benches and fish-cleaning areas. The city began working on the first two phases in 1998 and closed the pier during construction, finally reopening it in October 2000. However, the city has paid for repairs on the pier since 1994.

Subcommittee members will present their recommendations to the council possibly at its next meeting since the project is somewhat time-sensitive. The city must get the project out to bid so the council will have time to select a contracting firm that can begin work on the project so county lifeguards will only have to work at a makeshift headquarters for one summer rather than two.