Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city's expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.
City Council will consider $334,050 in a consent agenda that includes tree storage, new cars, and playground designs.
Council could kick off the design process for a playground to be built on the beach at Montana Avenue.
Currently, children have access to equipment on the north beach at Annenberg Community Beach House and on two old swing sets near Montana, city officials said in a report to council.
A North Beach Play Area Study was commissioned to analyze a 1.4-mile stretch between the beach house and the Santa Monica Pier. It identified California, Arizona and Montana avenues as possible locations but settled on the latter for its proximity to restrooms, a parking lot, and a pedestrian overpass.
"An additional advantage at this site is that the playground may be located east of the bike path to avoid children and families having to cross the bike path to reach the playground," city officials said in the report.
The area has had play equipment in the past but — except for those old swing sets — it's all been removed.
Patrick Tighe Architecture will likely get the $146,896 bid to design the new playground. The designs are scheduled to go before council in the spring. They'd be finalized a year later.
Construction would begin in fall of 2016 and finished in the spring of 2017.
Tree storage
Council is likely going to spend $10,000 to store some trees uprooted by the Expo Light Rail project a little longer than expected.
In 2012, council agreed to pay Valley Crest Tree Company $350,000 to remove 66 trees from the public right-of-way on Olympic Boulevard between Stewart Street and Cloverfield Boulevard where the incoming Expo is being constructed.
Of the 66 trees, 52 were identified as good candidates for relocation based on "their overall health, structural characteristics, appraised values, and ability to thrive once relocated," city officials said in a report to council.
Valley Crest relocated 21 of those trees and dropped the other 31 Ficus benjamina trees in storage until Buffer Park construction is underway.
Buffer Park, which will be renamed by City Council at a later date, is intended to block nearby residents from the Expo Maintenance Facility. The park will be long and thin — a chain of small parks.
But delays to the construction of the maintenance facility mean that the trees will need to be stored for an addition 13 months. A bunch of that will be covered by the initial contingency costs but the addition $10,000 is needed to keep the trees alive through early 2016.
Sparks
Council will consider buying six new Chevy Sparks from Lake Chevrolet for $177,154. These electric vehicles would replace six old ones that have reached the end of their useful life.
