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Politics & Government

Officials Approve Hire of Landscape Architect

Company to visualize and design improvements to The Village.

The Glendora City Council approved Tuesday night the hiring of a consultant to design landscaping improvements in The Village.

The consultant, Hirsch & Associates Inc., was chosen for the Consultant Services Agreement to design a more "uniform, yet traditional presentation for The Village that would also not require additional maintenance dollars," officials said.

Hirsch & Associates Inc. returned the lowest bid of $9,600 for the Consultant Services Agreement.

The city spends between $85,000 to $95,000 annually on the visual appearance of The Village.

Last August, the Community Services Department and the Business Improvement District began investigating ways to improve the landscape after the parkway landscape became severely degraded. The condition of tree wells, dying plant material, fruit droppings from Ficus trees and defecating pets were all issues affecting The Village's appearance, city officials said.

In years past, certain merchants in The Village maintained the tree wells for the famous Ficus trees. As some of those merchants left, less maintenance was being done.

Last year, the BID, city contractors and in-house staff replaced much of the plant material with drought resistant varieties, but some of the plants did not thrive in the tree wells, city officials said. Eventually, it was decided a landscape architect would be chosen to make improvements.

Hirsch & Associates Inc. will prepare a computer generated design that will seek to create a uniform, aesthetically-pleasing, cost effective solution to The Village landscape within the BID boundaries.

The scope of services would also include:

  • An initial meeting with City Staff and the Downtown Business Improvement District
  • To review the Scope of Work and discuss any changes that may be necessary prior to proceeding with the project.
  • Collect all existing documentation from city recorders, if available.
  • Conduct on site visual inspection to verify existing site conditions. Prepare photographic record of existing conditions.
  • Prepare four alternative design concepts in 3D Sketch Up graphics program that illustrate the designs concepts.
  • Prepare probable cost estimate for each design concept.
  • Present design concepts to the City Staff and Downtown Business Improvement District for review and comment.
  • Revise the design concepts and cost estimates per the comments received.
  • Prepare and present the final design concepts and cost estimates to the City Staff and Downtown Business Improvement District for approval.
The project time schedule will be six weeks after notice to begin is granted by the city.
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