DATE: October 9, 2018
SUBJECT:
Title
RESOLUTION GRANTING INDEMNITY PURSUANT TO A CONSTRUCTION MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH THE SAN DIEGO AND ARIZONA EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY FOR THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED PORT DISTRICT'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SWEETWATER BICYCLE PATH AND PROMENADE PROJECT AND E STREET AT-GRADE CROSSING IN CHULA VISTA.
Body
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In 2018, the San Diego Unified Port District (District) entered into a Grant Agreement 1 with the State of California Natural Resources Agency (Agency) for Urban Greening Grant funding for the implementation of the Sweetwater Bicycle Path and Promenade Project (Sweetwater Path). The Sweetwater Path includes the construction of a Class 1 bike path and pedestrian promenade along the E Street portion of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway's (SDAE) inactive Coronado Belt Line, owned and managed by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). In order to facilitate the construction and use of the Sweetwater Path and provide enhanced access to the Chula Vista Bayfront, the District must also convert a portion of E Street from a private at-grade crossing over the SDAE Coronado Belt Line to an at-grade crossing.
The schedule to accommodate the grant requires that the District provide evidence of site control to the Agency for all of the land included in the project that is not within the District's jurisdiction no later than December 31, 2018. As a result, staff has been working diligently with MTS to negotiate a no-cost Construction and Maintenance Agreement (CMA) along with granting indemnity to SDAE, to allow the construction of these public access improvements.
The CMA will be contingent upon compliance with maintenance, insurance, indemnity and other requirements. Amongst these requirements is the District's obligation to construct a new rail line and crossing within the area and to provide insurance, if the Coronado Belt Line is ever reactivated. The likelihood of the Coronado Belt Line re-opening is...
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