Title
Authorize the Resource Management Agency Director to issue a Request for Proposals (Referral Number 2017.15) seeking proposals for the adaptive reuse of the Old Monterey County Jail, 142 W. Alisal Street, Salinas from qualified interested parties.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors authorize the Resource Management Agency Director to issue a Request for Proposals (Referral Number 2017.15) seeking proposals for the adaptive reuse of the Old Monterey County Jail, 142 W. Alisal Street, Salinas from qualified interested parties.
SUMMARY
The RMA received referral number 2017.15 from Supervisor Alejo dated August 29, 2017 for a resolution to approve a Request for Proposals (RFP) for adaptive reuse of the historic Old Monterey County Jail at 142 W. Alisal Street (sometimes referred to as “facility” or “building”). The site is historic as the location where farmworker leader Cesar Chavez was incarcerated in 1970. The RFP would require respondents to economically analyze, plan, direct, program, finance, construct and lease out the facility.
There have been numerous planning meetings with the public and a major feasibility study, the Adaptive Reuse Feasibility Study, Old Monterey County Jail was completed by Page and Turnbull on October 28, 2014 and expanded in 2015 (hereafter, “feasibility study”). That feasibility study identified nine (9) options for adaptive reuse. A copy of the feasibility study is available by request or at the following location: http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/Home/ShowDocument?id=12387. Following months of seeking key community stakeholder responses to the adaptive reuse options proposed by the feasibility study, the Board of Supervisors selected Scheme 9 (removal of the Jail) for the purposes of establishing a project description suitable for pursuing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The EIR would include an environmental analysis for the removal of the Old Monterey County Jail and replacement with a commemorative park as well as an examination of a full range of alternatives compliant with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR was proposed for commencement following occupancy of the former courthouse East/West Wing Renovation project in 2018. The request for authorization to issue an RFP is a final effort to solicit proposals for the adaptive reuse of the Old County Jail from qualified interested parties prior to the initiation of an EIR.
DISCUSSION:
The Old Monterey County Jail located at 142 W. Alisal Street, Salinas was constructed in 1930 with additions and modifications conducted during the 1950s and 1960s. The facility ceased functioning as a jail in 1977 with the opening of the Monterey County Adult Rehabilitation Facility at the Natividad Campus which is located five miles from the Old Monterey County Jail, Salinas Courthouse, and County Administration Building located on the Government Center Campus. Following transfer of all County jail functions to the Natividad Campus, the facility was used briefly as a repository for County documents and was then closed.
The Old Monterey County Jail is historically significant as the site of the incarceration of Cesar Chavez in 1970. In December of 1970, Cesar Chavez was arrested and incarcerated in the Old Monterey County Jail due to his involvement with the Salinas Valley Lettuce Boycott. His imprisonment in the Old Monterey County Jail represents the confluence of Monterey County’s agricultural, immigrant, and labor histories. It is for this reason that the Old Monterey County Jail is listed in the National Register of Historical Places under Criterion B (association with the lives of persons significant in United States history). The building is not on the National Register for its architectural style.
The County has conducted fifteen separate condition assessment and historical reports/studies in the past nineteen years. There have been at least six (6) separate projects to stabilize the building in the past fourteen years along with two (2) major projects in the past nine (9) years to mothball the facility. With the imminent completion of the East/West Wing Courthouse renovation project in the summer of 2018, the master plan for the Government Center Campus at 168 W. Alisal Street, Salinas, and its initial EIR recommendations must be addressed and brought to conclusion. Staff recommends final implementation of the Master Plan to include determination of the role, function, and use of the Old Monterey County Jail facility.
FINANCING:
The previous 2014/2015 feasibility study and County committee reviews for the adaptive reuse of the Old Monterey County Jail analyzed nine (9) options with associated project costs for each option. No funding for either an EIR or a project have been identified at this time. Therefore, there is no current impact to the General Fund for seeking an RFP for the adaptive reuse of the Old Monterey County Jail. Staff costs associated with developing an RFP are included in the FY 2017-18 Adopted Budget for the RMA.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The RMA will work with RMA-Real Properties and the Office of Economic Development to develop the RFP.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
The recommended action supports the following Board of Supervisors’ Strategic Initiative below:
X_ Economic Development
__ Administration
__ Health & Human Services
_ Infrastructure
__ Public Safety
Prepared by: Donald D. Searle, RMA Deputy Director of Public Works & Facilities
Approved by: Carl P. Holm, ACIP, RMA Director
Prepared Date: September 26, 2017
Attachment:
Attachment A - Nine options from the 2014/2015 Adaptive Reuse Study