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Paramount staff report CIP progress; council debates bike‑trail fencing and bus‑shelter designs
Summary
Public Works presented a quarterly CIP update covering completed plazas, parking expansion, bikeway construction, medians and a public‑market contract; council questioned a proposed vinyl fence for the bikeway (rough cost cited ~ $1 million) and asked staff to explore more durable, graffiti‑resistant alternatives and smaller bus‑shelter designs for constrained stops.
City staff delivered a quarterly update on Paramount’s capital improvement projects Tuesday, reporting several completed projects and a slate of active construction and design work while fielding council questions on design choices and maintenance tradeoffs.
Michelle (Assistant Public Works Director) reviewed completed projects including Progress Park plaza improvements, a 34‑space expansion of the City Hall parking lot with stormwater capture, the first section of the West Santa Ana Branch bikeway adjacent to Paramount Park, alley resurfacing funded by CDBG and median enhancements on Downey and Rosecrans avenues. She said the Civic Center fountain is substantially complete pending uplighting and plantings, and that koi fish will be reintroduced after water lilies establish themselves.
Active work includes additional bikeway construction (sections two and three), arterial resurfacing on Orange Avenue (where contractor testing found compaction issues on some panels) and a recently awarded contract for the Hay Tree Public Market community room and museum, which carries a 10% early‑completion incentive to meet a planned fall opening.
A lengthier exchange focused on the bikeway stretch that runs under LED towers. Staff recommended non‑conductive vinyl fencing as a buffer between the trail and adjacent private property because metal materials could conflict with the towers; staff estimated the vinyl option could cost roughly $1 million for the full stretch. Council members expressed concerns about durability, graffiti and maintenance for inexpensive vinyl panels and asked staff to compare costs for concrete or higher‑grade materials and to explore anti‑graffiti coatings and plantings as mitigations.
On transit infrastructure, staff outlined design plans for six new bus shelters at high‑ridership locations. Several proposed locations encountered utility conflicts or tight ADA clearances; staff said one site by the fountain may be feasible but could restrict the plaza aesthetic, and recommended exploring alternate, smaller shelter configurations for space‑constrained stops. Council asked staff to pursue alternatives with the designer and Long Beach Transit while not delaying the overall project schedule; the council agreed to have staff pursue alternate designs (as a follow‑on project) for two constrained stops in the next fiscal year while continuing with the six‑site procurement this year.
No formal votes altered project funding at the meeting; staff said Metro and other grant funding (Prop C, Measure M, Measure W) will be used where available and that some projects will be supplemented with city funds. Staff also noted that a portion of median construction funding has been reallocated by a regional advisory committee and that an executed Metro agreement is pending later this year to unlock construction funding.
Council directed staff to return with cost comparisons and alternative materials for the bikeway buffer and to work with the designers on smaller shelter concepts for constrained sites so the council can evaluate tradeoffs without delaying ready‑to‑bid work.
