COURTESY OF SCV NEWS

A big, new park-and-ride facility will be coming home to Valencia if the Santa Clarita City Council approves a construction contract Tuesday.

Plans for the 285-space lot next to the McBean Regional Transit Center near the corner of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway date to 2006 when the city included it in a long-range transit plan.

The city Planning Commission authorized the necessary permits in October 2011 and the City Council voted to purchase the property in November 2011.

Currently, the Transit Center – a 12-bay facility that accommodates passengers who arrive and depart by bus, often switching from one route to another – has no parking spaces.

The new park-and-ride facility would facilitate “multimodal” travel, meaning commuters will be able to drive there and hop on a bus. Plans also call for five new bus layover pads, bike lockers, benches, kiosks, a plasma TV for bus arrival information and public art displays approved by the Arts Commission.

At the request of neighbors in the Woodlands and Valencia North Valley, the city is installing a photocell-controlled lighting system, fencing and landscaping with matured trees to minimize visual impacts.

The city has received $4.7 million through a combination fo Recovery Act (aka “stimulus”) money, federal highway dollars and MTA funds. The money can be used only for the park-and-ride project.

The city put the project to bid over the summer. The lowest qualifying bidder was TOBO Construction Inc. Los Angeles at $3.63 million.

The lowest Santa Clarita bidder was C.A. Rasmussen at $4.25 million, followed closely by R.C. Becker & Son at $4.33 million.

Normally, in its efforts to “shop local,” the city can give a slight allowance to the lowest Santa Clarita bidder – but state law bars the city from giving such allowances for public works projects like the park-and-ride facility.

On Tuesday the council will vote on a staff recommendation to award the contract to TOBO at a base price of $3.63 million with a $620,000 contingency, for a total contract amount not to exceed $4.25 million.

(The difference between the $4.25 million contract and the $4.7 million in receipts goes to other companies for related construction activities.)