San Gabriel Council OKs $35,461 contract for veterans memorial concept design

The San Gabriel City Council on Tuesday approved a $35,461 contract with David Waltz Design, Inc. to develop conceptual designs for a veterans memorial at Plaza Park and adopted Resolution No. 25-28 to appropriate the fee from park development impact funds.

City staff said the contract covers a kickoff meeting, site analysis, three in-person community meetings with the San Gabriel Veterans Memorial Coalition, development of two concept designs for council review, and a final concept to return to the council for approval. Rebecca Perez, community services director, told the council the firm’s experience with veterans memorials and the site’s proximity to the historic mission informed the recommendation.

The Veterans Memorial Coalition has said it wants the memorial to honor service branches, include names of veterans who lived in San Gabriel and be accessible year-round. Coalition president Michael Cervantes and other coalition members spoke in public comment in support of the contract and urged the council to move forward. Eric Sterling of David Waltz Design described the typical next steps after conceptual approval: selection of materials, a conceptual cost estimate, then preparation of construction documents and a bidding phase.

Council members asked how the coalition would participate; staff said the coalition would work alongside the city and the landscape architect in developing concepts, and the final concept would be approved by the council. Council discussion also clarified that the requested action was to fund and authorize only the conceptual design phase. Staff recommended using park development impact fees for the appropriation.

The motion passed unanimously. Council amended staff’s recommended outreach approach so the full council would be invited to participate in meetings with the coalition and designer, rather than limiting participation to two council liaisons. The council voted to approve the agreement, authorize the city manager to execute the contract pending city attorney review, and adopt Resolution No. 25-28 appropriating $35,461.

Staff and the designer said construction-phase costs were not fixed and would depend on the preferred concept. Proposals in the packet included cost estimates for later phases (construction documents and construction), with one firm’s combined later-phase figure shown in the proposal materials at roughly $115,000; staff said those later-phase costs would be the subject of future council approvals and open bidding for the construction contract.

The council and coalition indicated the coalition would retain the names database used for any future engraved walls; the memorial coalition may fund name walls as a later phase if coalition funding is sufficient. The council directed staff to proceed with the conceptual-design contract and to include the full council in outreach meetings going forward.