Dayton staff ready 2025 park improvement bid package; L.C. Stevens bandshell deferred pending master plan

Good evening, park commissioners. Paul Kangas, Inside Outside Architecture, said the city’s 2025 Park Improvement Package is at the 95% design level and staff expects to put the work out for bid in early March.

Why it matters: The packet includes three projects that the city expects to advance this year—Park Service Area 21 (PSA 21), I Own Gardens, and portions of L.C. Stevens Park—along with multiple bid alternates intended to help the city match final construction costs to budget. Commissioners pressed staff on civil and irrigation drawings, a proposed bandshell at L.C. Stevens Park and short-term options to allow events this summer.

Paul Kangas, a landscape architect with Inside Outside Architecture, told the commission the package is nearing completion: "The plan was and still is to put this out on the street for contractors to bid, in early March." He said the bid form and final estimate will be refined once the irrigation designer and civil engineer supply outstanding information.

PSA 21. Kangas described the work planned for Park Service Area 21 as a neighborhood park; the commission will develop the north half now and leave the south half for a later phase when additional land is acquired. The site drawings include a playground, pickleball courts, a four-goal basketball area (end goals and two side goals), a sand volleyball court and a parking lot. The design team included several bid…