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Haslet board moves to seek landscape design for Veterans Memorial Garden; administration to engage architect
Summary
Park board members agreed to pursue a landscape architect and to have their representative work with city staff to produce a formal design; final design and construction costs will return to the board and to city council if they change the previously approved scope.
Haslet Park Board members agreed during an April 9 meeting to pursue a formal landscape design for the Veterans Memorial Garden and to have a park representative work directly with city staff and a hired landscape architect to produce plans.
Board members said the memorial garden project, as previously described, had expanded beyond the scope the board originally understood. Administration recommended contracting a landscape architect so the board and potential contractors would know a definitive scope before construction. “We have to go get a landscape architect,” a city staff member said during the meeting.
Mr. Fedler, the park’s designated representative on the garden project, and city staff will meet with the identified landscape architect to develop a concept and then a final design. The city staff explained the process: design concepts will return to the park board for review; once a final design and construction cost estimate are produced, any contract for construction will go to city council for award.
Board members stressed they did not intend to bypass the board’s role in shaping the project. One board member said the board wished to update meeting minutes to reflect that administration had recommended a landscape design and that the board agreed the design work was necessary.
Why it matters: a formal design will produce construction documents and cost estimates needed for competitive bidding and for the city council to consider a contract award. Board members said the step was intended to reduce the risk that contractors and the city would proceed with differing expectations of scope.
The meeting transcript shows the board will add an actionable agenda item titled “Memorial Garden” at the next meeting to review any concept designs or recommendations from the landscape architect. Staff said they would invite Mr. Fedler and the park board to review concepts before finalization.
Ending: The board expects the administration to coordinate the landscape-architect contract and to return concepts to the park board in a future meeting; if the final design materially changes cost or scope from what council previously approved, staff said the project would return to city council for reauthorization.
