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Newton Park rebuild still funded but delayed by CDBG/HUD procurement steps, town says
Summary
Town staff updated the advisory board that Newton Park is funded with about $3.5 million from a HUD CDBG pass-through via Lee County but the design procurement has been rebid after an error. Staff said HUD and county rules require public interviews of shortlisted designers, extending the schedule; no firm construction timetable was given.
Jeff Hauge, a town staff member, told the Cultural and Environmental Learning Center advisory board on Sept. 25 that the Newton Park rebuild remains funded but that procurement and HUD/Lee County requirements are delaying design and construction.
Hauge said the town has approximately $3,500,000 earmarked for Newton Park through a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that Lee County received from HUD and passed through to the town. He said the town solicited design proposals, received five expressions of interest, and then discovered an error in the first procurement posting that required rebidding.
Hauge explained that HUD and the county require a public interview process for shortlisted design firms for CDBG-funded projects; the requirement adds time because the proposals and interview results must flow through county and HUD review. "HUD and Lee County requires to do public interviews...it's been a longer process than we had hoped," Hauge said.
Hauge said Newton Park's project is a stand‑alone CDBG project (not bundled with the North Tower or pool projects) and that the town already has a community-developed conceptual plan, which may shorten the design phase. He said the park project involves vegetation, a parking lot and a pavilion-style shade structure ("cheeky hut"), and that the $3.5 million covers design and construction under the current award.
Board members asked whether public pressure would accelerate the process; Hauge said the schedule delay stems from paperwork and federal/county procedures, not from lack of effort by town staff. He said staff meet regularly with county grant officials and discussed that Newton Park is one of the projects the town hopes will move more quickly because it does not require as much structural engineering as the pool or North Tower projects.
Hauge said staff will report procurement updates to the advisory board at future meetings and noted the town has added temporary fencing and limited uses on the site while the design and procurement process proceeds.
