Hermosa Beach commission recommends traditional design-bid-build for city yard after long debate

The Hermosa Beach Public Works Commission voted 4–1 on July (date not specified) to recommend that the City Council pursue a traditional design‑bid‑build procurement method for the city yard project, after a multihour staff presentation and extensive commissioner debate about cost, schedule and risk.

Commission members reached the recommendation after hearing staff and consultants describe two delivery options for the project — a traditional design‑bid‑build approach and a progressive design‑build (PDB) model — and after lengthy discussion about environmental cleanup, financing and the level of control the city would retain over design and cost.

Public Works Director Joe San Clemente told commissioners the yard project is not fully funded but the city has enough money to start preliminary work. "This is not a completely funded project. Currently, our CIP has $1,000,000 budgeted in this current fiscal year. There's also $900,000 in set aside reserve funds in the CIP," San Clemente said. He said the city’s currently budgeted funds are sufficient to begin environmental and design programming work but that the full project will likely be in the $15 million–$20 million range once scope and remediation are defined.

Senior consulting engineer John Oskweave outlined the two…