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Rosemead council selects RKA Consulting for Walnut Grove/Valley design; optional median work left for later
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Summary
The City Council voted to award a professional design‑services agreement to RKA Consulting Group for core roadway and ADA improvements on Walnut Grove Avenue and Valley Boulevard (core fee $565,680). Council discussed an optional package for medians, bike lanes and monument work estimated at $233,300 and asked staff to document assumptions before any optional work is authorized.
The Rosemead City Council voted to award a professional design‑services agreement to RKA Consulting Group for the Walnut Grove Avenue and Valley Boulevard Roadway Improvements Project, approving the core contract and reserving optional elements for a future decision.
Councilmember Sean Dang moved to accept staff’s recommendation and Mayor Pro Tem Polly Lowe seconded. The motion carried on a 3–0 vote; Councilmember Margaret Clark was absent and Councilmember Steven Lee recused himself from the item because a family member works for the firm.
The approved action covers the core design scope needed to deliver construction‑ready bid documents — resurfacing, ADA upgrades, sidewalk improvements and other core elements — for a staff‑recommended core fee of approximately $565,680. Staff and the selected consultant explained the contract separates the core work from three optional elements: a feasibility and design path for a center median with landscaping and irrigation, conceptual monument/entry signage, and a bike‑lane feasibility/design component. Staff said the optional package was presented for transparency and could be added later by amendment if council chooses to proceed.
Council discussion focused on whether the optional package is truly optional and how the optional cost was calculated. “It’s labeled optional, but it’s really not optional,” Councilmember Dang said, pressing staff and the consultant on why the optional line items were priced the way they were. RKA representative Bobby Lynn said the optional estimate assumes median and landscaping work across the full project limits — at base level the firm assumed a 10‑foot‑wide median through the corridor for bidding purposes — and that final quantities and cost would be refined after traffic and feasibility studies.
Staff said the city would run core design work concurrently with feasibility studies to protect an identified $1.2 million in federal funding; the schedule calls for resolving optional‑element decisions during the 50–60% design window so that feasible optional elements can be incorporated into the final documents without jeopardizing grant timing. If council later decides to exercise the optional work, staff will return with a contract amendment to add the additional design fee.
Councilmembers requested greater transparency about the optional estimate before exercising it. Mayor Pro Tem Lowe asked the consultant to document the assumptions used to generate the $233,300 optional estimate and provide those assumptions to the council. Staff committed to negotiating any optional‑phase price down if the final scope is reduced and to returning to council for authorization before the optional work is executed.
The council’s vote moves the core design phase into contract execution and schedules feasibility work for the optional elements. Staff will return with refined schedules, the consultant’s documented assumptions for the optional estimate, and any recommended contract amendments if council elects to proceed with additional work.
