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Council approves park parking expansion with Porter Road entrance despite $160K–$214K overrun
Summary
Council approved the parking lot contract and a new north (Porter Road) entrance for the community park; the project is now estimated to be $163,000 to $214,000 over budget and will use surplus community park funds and money from the Bill O'Fallon Trust Fund.
The board approved the base parking-lot contract and added north access from Porter Road for the community park, despite a projected budget shortfall. Andrew, staff member, told the board the recommendation is to accept the base bid plus alternates including lime stabilization and drainage work and to include the Porter Road entrance, which increased the project scope and cost. "So we're roughly 100 depending on the contingency, and any under unknowns. We could be between a 163 and a 100 and $214,000 over budget," Andrew said.
The additional north entrance was requested by the council during budget deliberations earlier in the year, Andrew said, and is the primary reason the project exceeded the earlier estimates. "That is why we were ultimately over budget because we added that entrance on the north side of the park," he said. Board members said they supported the entrance as a way to relieve neighborhood traffic; one member said it would help residents near Newksen and Madison.
The board discussed funding sources. Andrew said the city had previously allocated more than $20 million for the community park project and that the project is currently “a little over $19.5 million,” allowing staff to transfer roughly $163,000 from the community park budget to cover part of the overrun. In public comment, Ron Zielms asked whether the Bill O'Fallon Trust Fund has been mostly supporting parks projects and asked for a future finance briefing on the trust fund's allocations; staff confirmed the specific parking-lot transfer is coming from the Bill O'Fallon Trust Fund.
A motion to approve the recommended contract and budget amendment was made and seconded. During roll call the members present voted to approve (Chair Voorhees: yes; Miss Foehne: yes; Mr. Hudson: yes; Miss Stoffel: yes; Mr. Newcomb: yes). The motion carried.
The board requested that staff include a map or diagram of the Porter Road entrance in upcoming council meeting materials so the public can see the proposed exit location near the North Pond and the soccer fields. Andrew said he would add that map to the next council agenda packet. The item will move to the full council with the approved motion and the identified funding transfer.
