City Council
MEETING DATE: 11/9/2016
TITLE:
Title
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Awards for Ocotillo Park and Eagle Canyon Dam
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FROM:
Pat Milos, Community Development Director
John A. Corella, P.E. - City Engineer
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Report and Presentation of Award.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 150,000 members of the civil engineering profession in 177 countries. Founded in 1852, ASCE is the nation’s oldest engineering society.
ASCE stands at the forefront of a profession that plans, designs, constructs, and operates society’s economic and social engine - the built environment - while protecting and restoring the natural environment.
Every year ASCE local branches place a request for projects that are extraordinary enough to compete for prized ASCE awards. Projects are placed within defined categories, such as, Large Projects, Transportation Projects, Roadway and Highway Projects, Community Improvement Projects and Parks and Recreation Projects. These are competitive submittals. The projects are then evaluated by the local branch awards committee.
Ocotillo Park's (formerly Whitewater Park) design engineers, David Evans and Associates and City Staff, incorporated several unique design and construction features into this Park Project. Features were incorporated that provided sustainability and functionality. For a small example, solar power and LED lighting systems were incorporated in the Park Project, as well as low impact environmentally friendly and sustainable pervious surfaces. There are numerous innovative features to the Park Project, that alone do not stand out, but when combined add up to a well thought out completed Park Project that was well received by the community.
As a result, on June 23, 2016 at the Riverside Convention Center, the San Bernardino Riverside Branch of ASCE presented the City of Cathedral City and David Evans and Associates with the Parks and Recreation Project of the Year Award for the Ocotillo Park Project.
DISCUSSION:
As a result of the Park Project receiving this award from the local ASCE Branch, the Park Project was automatically moved forward into a larger regional (Los Angeles) award contest and competed with other projects from other local ASCE Branches within the same category and won the distinction of the Los Angeles Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers Parks and Recreation Project of the Year.
Also a note of distinction is that the Eagle Canyon Dam completed in 2016 by the lead agency Riverside County Flood Control, with support from the City of Cathedral City received the Los Angeles Section of the ASCE's award for the Flood Management Project of the Year.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None
ATTACHMENTS:
None