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Council approves consultant contract and formal approval of offers for Douglas Avenue right-of-way acquisitions
Summary
Wichita councilors approved a consultant contract and authorized the formal approval of acquisition offers needed to start property outreach for the Douglas Avenue improvements from Seneca to Meridian.
The Wichita City Council on May 6 approved a contract for professional real-estate acquisition services and a formal approval of the offers necessary to begin property contacts for the Douglas Avenue improvement project from Seneca Street to Meridian Avenue.
Staff said the city issued a request for proposals in late February to meet a tight acquisition time frame and selected a consultant that proposed a five-person acquisition team to work full time on the project. City staff explained that the approval of offers on the agenda is a required formality under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (the Uniform Act) but that the city will not initiate those offers until the consultant is onboarded.
Council members asked about staffing, per-parcel pricing and schedule. Staff said the selected consultant proposed per-parcel acquisition costs of about $2,900 and a total consultant contract amount of roughly $358,000; staff noted comparable projects had averaged about $5,000 per parcel and that respondents to the RFP proposed team staffing ranging from four to eight people. Staff told the council the earliest physical construction start for the Douglas segment could be January 2026.
Council approved the consent-item motions to award the contract and authorize the offers so the consultant could begin immediately upon contract execution.
