The Santa Barbara City Council approved a $4.7 million budget adjustment for the new downtown police station after pre-construction demolition and soil preparation revealed contaminated soil at the location on East Cota Street.
The project officially broke ground in May but was delayed when soil samples found one area with “slightly elevated” levels of naturally occurring arsenic, forcing the removal of about 10,000 cubic yards of soil.
Originally, the project was proposed with a budget of $122 million with $10.2 million in contingency funds. By the time the project was granted construction permits, that total had increased to $135 million with an extra $2 million in contingency funds. The $4.7 million approved for the recent delays will take about 45 percent of the remaining contingency funds.
According to a staff report presented to the city’s Finance Committee, the cost of the soil contamination was originally estimated to be nearly $8 million before the project team was able to reduce impacts and delays to bring the cost down. The $4.7 million budget adjustment covers environmental monitoring, geological inspections, and the relocation of two water lines on the Santa Barbara Street side of the project.
