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Council OKs $168,000 design contract for police auxiliary building amid questions on utilities and contamination
Summary
The council authorized a design contract for rehabilitation of the Long Beach Police Auxiliary Building, with staff citing unknown utilities, likely PCB-containing transformers and the need for a GPR survey; one council member voted against the award because he had not seen the contract prior to the meeting.
The Long Beach City Council voted Dec. 3 to authorize the city manager to award a design contract for the rehabilitation of the Long Beach Police Auxiliary Building to the lowest responsible proposer. City staff said the full contract value is $168,000, with $87,000 allocated to design; construction-phase funding would be released only if the project moves to construction.
Presenter Russell Darris explained site complications that increase design scope: the building dates to the 1950s, has numerous known and unknown buried utilities and several transformers on site that staff suspect are filled with PCB-contaminated oil. He said a GPR (ground-penetrating radar) survey would cost approximately $20,000 and that transformer relocation was estimated in a prior 2022 study at about $150,000 (noting current prices have increased and the figure may be closer to $200,000).
Darris described the scope as a full gut-and-rehab to meet current New York State energy and fire-safety codes, including a new roof, structural repairs and HVAC for climate-controlled records storage. He said the building also houses the city sign shop, vehicle storage and significant records storage space.
Several council members and residents urged that copies of the contract be provided in advance of votes; Council member Lester explicitly opposed adoption, saying he could not vote for an agreement he had not seen. The motion to authorize the manager to enter the agreement passed on roll call with at least one recorded No vote.
Staff promised to provide deeds and meets-and-bounds documents to council members and to work with PSE&G on transformer upgrades. Designers will perform environmental testing as necessary to determine whether remediation is required.
