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Board approves fifth modification to Dudek contract for Lithium Valley specific plan amid concerns over cost and delays
Summary
The board approved a $171,950 contract modification for Dudek/Rick Engineering to continue traffic and programmatic EIR work on the Lithium Valley specific plan, funded by Assembly Bill 125. Supervisors pressed staff on cumulative change orders and schedule delays.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors on July 1 approved a fifth modification to the county's contract with Dudek and Rick Engineering for the Lithium Valley specific plan and the programmatic environmental impact report (EIR). The modification covers additional traffic work, coordination with Caltrans, and outreach; funding was identified as Assembly Bill 125 and the item was described as having no general‑fund effect.
Dominic Minnick, county planning director, presented the amendment. Supervisors pressed for detail on cumulative change orders: the item is the fifth modification and, by supervisors' arithmetic during the meeting, the contract now totals about $3.2 million from an initial $2.4 million — an increase of roughly $800,000 (more than 30%). Supervisor Escobar said the cumulative amount "is not chump change" and expressed concern about repeated change orders, delays, and the effect on project viability.
Minnick explained that recent scope changes were driven largely by traffic analysis: the Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) had provided a traffic model to Caltrans, which required the county to run two models and coordinate with Caltrans to meet their timeline. He said doing the additional modeling increased time and cost but allowed the project to continue on Caltrans' critical path. Supervisor Cardenas Singh said she pulled the item to ensure the public could see the funding source and the cumulative increases.
County counsel advised the board that consultant contracts and amendments had been reviewed and were allowable; staff said rejecting the change order would stop the traffic modeling and could halt progress on the programmatic EIR. After discussion the board approved the modification by motion of Supervisor Escobar, seconded by Supervisor Price.
Speakers in public comment earlier in the meeting raised community concerns about Lithium Valley development and asked that jobs, water protections and environmental safeguards remain local; Eric Montoya Reyes announced a new Lithium Valley Stakeholder Coalition focused on equity, jobs and transparency. County staff said IID (Imperial Irrigation District) had presented on energy and water at a recent meeting and that water creation and transmission will be part of project planning.
