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 alternates: seat walls and landscaping on the park's south side, a concrete edge at the sand volleyball court to reduce maintenance, and a permanent soccer goal option. Kangas said alternates are included to give the city flexibility when low bids arrive.

Irrigation and civil work. Contractors will bid under a "hard" municipal low-bid procurement, Kangas said, so the city is building alternates into the documents. He noted a change from past projects: PSA 21 is planned to be irrigated except for two narrow areas on the east and west edges. That irrigation decision is still open; commissioners asked staff to confirm whether the additional cost for those narrow areas is justified for long-term maintenance and turf quality. Kangas said he was still waiting for irrigation and stormwater civil information to finalize grading and drainage details.

I Own Gardens and playground work. The smaller I Own Gardens project will add a seating area with limestone blocks, a modest wall and supplemental tree plantings. Kangas said the developer never installed proposed coniferous screen trees, so the design adds some new plantings to restore intended screening.

L.C. Stevens Park and the bandshell. L.C. Stevens Park drew the most debate. Kangas and several commissioners said the bandshell concept that appears in the 2025 documents should be postponed until the master planning process finishes. "I think it's premature to do something here and handcuff the people waiting in the wings here, as they start to do their work," Kangas said, adding, "I'm basically giving up work to do that, and I'm fine with that. I think it's a mistake to build something now when you don't know what else you're building in that area." Several commissioners reiterated that the commission had previously recommended postponing a permanent bandshell and instead exploring interim covered options.

Temporary covered option. Commissioners suggested renting a large temporary tent or investing in a city-owned rental tent as a short-term way to protect performers and allow year-2025 events without constructing a permanent structure. One commissioner noted other nearby communities cash-flow similar rentals through on-site revenue such as beer sales.

Other design choices. The packet includes two circular fire-pit areas and an alternate that retains a wall-and-fireplace element. Kangas said the commission previously recommended fire pits and aggregate surfacing in place of permanently installed grills. He also described parking and a gated historic entrance where Hennepin County requires a control gate as shown in the plans.

Schedule, review and council authorization. Kangas said the city council formally authorizes bidding; his office aims to have final cost estimates and a biddable package ready for the council before documents go out. He asked the commission whether it preferred to review the full bid package at a meeting or receive the detailed PDFs and spreadsheets by email for out-of-meeting review. Commissioners agreed they could review the materials by email and provide comments before the council sees the bid-ready documents; staff agreed to circulate the 95% PDFs and the updated spreadsheet to commissioners and to forward materials to Marty Farrell for distribution.

What the commission directed. Commissioners did not vote on construction items at this meeting. Instead they asked staff to: - circulate the full bid package and updated cost spreadsheet by email in the coming days; and - hold the bandshell as a deferred item pending the outcome of the L.C. Stevens master plan update, while exploring temporary covered options for summer 2025 events.

Kangas stressed that the documents remain preliminary until they go out for bid and that addenda are possible once the bid process opens. He recommended minimizing addenda to keep bidding straightforward for contractors.

What’s next. Staff will provide irrigation and civil updates as they come in, deliver the 95% PDFs and spreadsheets to commissioners by email, and present final documents to the city council for permission to advertise the work for bid.

Ending: The commission closed the discussion and moved on to consultant interviews for the L.C. Stevens master plan later in the agenda.