1 week Ago By Todd R. Hansen
FAIRFIELD – The city has given FEMA a new cost estimate for water line and electrical repairs for the Lopes Road reconstruction project. However, there is still no timeline when the repair work will actually begin. "Ideally, we would be putting (the road work) out to bid later this summer.
The utilities we can do in the winter," Michael J. Hether, assistant Public Works director for Fairfield, said in a phone interview. The city's monthly update on the project stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had requested the updated information The new certified cost estimate for the water line and electrical work is $3.
1 million, Hether said. Part of the issue is bureaucracy. He said each time new FEMA representatives come on board, new information has to be resubmitted.
"What ends of happening is FEMA sends in a new group of people ...
and what FEMA had was an old cost estimate," Hether said. Additionally, it is not just FEMA the city has to deal with when it comes to the actual road repair since the Federal Highway Administration is likely to be the funding source, Still, Hether said there is a lot of "back and forth' with FEMA on the road repairs. The cities of Fairfield and Benicia also have amended the Memorandum of Understanding between the cities.
The Fairfield council approved the document on April 1. The amendment updates the cost sharing between cities to account for changes in design reflected in the updated cost estimate. "Staff mutually agreed that the cost-sharing for soft-costs, which include design, environmental clearance/permitting, and construction engineering and inspection, are allocated 75% to be paid by the city of Fairfield and 25% to be paid by the city of Benicia.
This ratio is established based on estimated construction costs for each agency," the city staff report states. A landslide during the winter storms of 2023 caused the damage to a section of Lopes Road, tpo Fairfield's 30-inch potable water pipeline, and a 36-inch raw water pipeline belonging to Benicia. The California Office of Emergency Services is also involved in the project.
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