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Trestle History Page 5

A Timeline of the Many and Varied Attempts to

Restore the Petaluma Trestle

Date	City publishes final draft of the RFP for design and planning of Trestle project to be paid for from the State Coastal Conservancy grant	Image or PDF
5/20/10	City staff prepared a more detailed Project Work Plan and Project Budget detailing activities and their costs necessary to be completed before actual rehabilitation of the Trestle could begin. This was begun in January of 2010, before the City even applied for the State Coastal Conservancy grant, then revised in May, 2010, According to the estimate Phase 1 (Planning & Schematic Design) and Phase 2 (Detailed Design & Construction Documents) would cost a total of $500,000 in 2010 dollars. This left nothing for Phase 3 (Construction Administration) and it is marked NIC - Not In Contract.
8/2/10	Petaluma City Council approves budgeting $25,000 (5% of $500,000 project cost) for co-funding the State Coastal Conservancy Grant needed for planning and design of Trestle Rehabilitation Pg 1 - It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution amending the FY 10/11 Budget to include the Trestle Rehabilitation Project and committing 5% of project cost as local match to the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program Grant. Pg 5 - RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY 10/11 BUDGET TO INCLUDE THE TRESTLE REHABILITATION PROJECT AND COMMITTING 5% OF PROJECT COST AS LOCAL MATCH TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CONSERVANCY PROGRAM GRANT. 1. Upon award of grant from the Coastal Conservancy, amends the Fiscal Year 2010-11 Adopted CIP Budget to include the Trestle Rehabilitation Project; and 2. Commits to funding 5% of the project cost, as local match, to the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program Grant.
10/21/10	State Coastal Conservancy approves and funds the Grant ($475,000) for planning and design of Trestle Rehabilitation "RECOMMENDED ACTION: Authorization to disburse up to $475,000 to the City of Petaluma to complete analysis, engineered designs and permits for the rehabilitation of the historic trestle on the Petaluma River for public access in downtown Petaluma, Sonoma County."
10/28/10	ARGUS COURIER Article “Trestle rehabilitation grant approved”
12/6/10	Petaluma City Council formally accepts State Coastal Conservancy Grant ($475,000) for design and planning of Trestle Rehabilitation. The remaining $25,000 necessary for the project will be provided by Petaluma and SMART each contributing $12,500. "RESOLUTION ACCEPTING COASTAL CONSERVANCY FUNDING FOR DESIGN OF THE DOWNTOWN RAILROAD TRESTLE REHABILITATION PROJECT, AND AUTHORIZING CITY MANAGER TO SIGN THE GRANT-RELATED DOCUMENTS" "the City of Petaluma is desirous to complete a project to rehabilitate this historically significant structure;" "the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit agency, the owner of the Trestle, is supportive of the rehabilitation project and has committed to provide in-kind staff services to serve as one half of the e grant match (equivalent to $12,500)." 1. Accepts the Coastal Conservancy Grant funding in the amount of $475, 000; and 2. Authorizes the City Manager to sign the Coastal Conservancy Grant Agreement and all other associated documents required for this project, in order to receive grant funding allocation.
1/20/11	Scope of Work Document by City staff, roughs out list of actions to be completed with the State Coastal Conservancy Grant. Does not include any dates or a timeline, but does refer to "input from stakeholders". From Item 13: "Facilitate input from stakeholders, including three separate meetings, one with each of the following: 1) develop working agreement with SMART; 2) facilitate public workshop for community input; 3) facilitate workshop for input from local business owners"
2/16/11	Chris Stevick makes a presentation about saving the Trestle to the Recreation, Music, and Parks Commission The first thumbnail on the right is linked to the video archived at the City of Petaluma website, and will open in a new window. The second thumbnail on the right is linked to a complete transcript of Chris' presentation that will open in a pop--up	Archived Video: Transcript
2/24/11	City publishes final draft of the RFP for design and planning of Trestle project to be paid for from the State Coastal Conservancy grant
2/27/11	Diane Ramirez, Capital Improvements Project Manager, shares a document with Chris. It is a schedule prepared by the City for designing and planning the Trestle project. Dated 2/2/11, it shows all tasks and milestones necessary to complete the work funded by the SCC grant, all plotted on a timeline between June, 2011 and January 2012. These are all required to be completed by the company with the winning proposal. This document is similar to the Scope of Work Document (1/20/11) but with an actual schedule with date ranges for completion. The SCC Grant funded work to begin 6/1/11 and finish by 8/31/12. Important dates: a. “Facilitate Project Stakeholder Feedback” 8/2/11 to 10/3/11 b. “Project Design Criteria Document” 7/19/11 to 7/29/11 c. “Develop Trestle Rehabilitation Alternatives (3)” 7/25/11 to 9/30/11 Editor's note: Though Diane trusts Chris enough to give him a copy of this document, she says, and even writes on it, “please don’t share.” Why the secrecy? It makes you wonder why are they so afraid of transparency?

Date	Event or Document	Image or PDF
Feb. 2011	City chooses Winzler & Kelly to execute the Trestle Design and Plan (to be paid for by the SCC Grant) Editor"s Note: Chris was one of the judges who evaluated presentations from several engineering firms. All the judges (mostly City employees) voted and Winzler & Kelly won the vote. Chris was disappointed with this result, mostly because W & K, though they have supervised enormous and ambitious projects around the state, had little or no experience with railroads and more importantly, no experience in restoration of historic structures. Their presentation had been vague and lackluster compared to several other smaller firms that did have experience in the relevant fields. But W & K had the advantage of previous contracts with City of Petaluma departments, and as most of the judges were City employees, W & K was a familiar contractor. They were expected to be cooperative and easy to work with. (Chris would say they’d gladly lean towards solutions favored by Public Works, just to maintain their relationship with the City).
3/9/11	Diane reveals to Chris that the Trestle studies had been completed some months earlier, but Public Works did not make them available for public review.
3/10/11	Chris prepared a banner to be posted near the Trestle announcing planned work, with names and logos of supporting groups, SCC, Heritage Homes, Petaluma History Museum and others. Editor's note: Without explanation, Diane Ramirez asked Chris to remove the W & K logo from the banner. Puzzling, and a little troubling, since they had just won the contract, wouldn’t they have wanted their name on it? As it turned out, W & K were bought out and absorbed by the GHD Group in October of 2011, and they continued with the project under the new name. In March, 2011, W & K and Public Works staff knew the name would soon change, but it was not yet official. By not explaining the deletion it makes Public Works look secretive and another instance of avoiding transparency
3/10/11	ARGUS COURIER Article - “Chris Stevick declared “Good Egg” for 2011” "I am impressed with Christopher's unwavering commitment to saving the Water Street Trestle and promoting the trolley project," said local historian Katherine Rinehart. "In the last decade, Christopher has surely donated thousands of hours of his time toward these causes as well as to other historic preservation efforts. For that, Petalumans and those who visit our wonderful city benefit."
4/4/11	No Stakeholder Input so far. Despite several reminders from Chris and others, no opportunities for the required stakeholder input had been offered by W & K or the City From Scope of Work Document (1/20/11) "Facilitate input from stakeholders,... 2) facilitate public workshop for community input" From the Trestle Rehabilitation Schedule of 2/2/11 marked "Do Not Share" Facilitate Project Stakeholder Feedback is scheduled to begin 8/2/11
8/21/11	Three alternative solutions were developed by W & K and Public Works without any stakeholder input. Following dates come from the Trestle Rehabilitation Schedule of 2/2/11 (the one marked "Do Not Share") • 3 Alternatives are right on schedule – scheduled 7/25 and 9/30/11 • But Stakeholder Feedback, scheduled 8/2 to 10/31/11, was ignored. No meetings scheduled
8/27/11	Trestle studies done and design criteria dated as finished but still not published
9/21/11	Chris protests to council members and City Manager that no Stakeholder participation had been allowed.
9/23/11	Chris requests wood report (but no studies were released until spring of 2012)
Oct. 2011	W & K were bought out and absorbed by the GHD Group in October of 2011. They proceed with their contract with Petaluma, but are now referred to in documentation as “GHD"

Trestle History Page 5

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