Council reviews redesign and value‑engineering after Dave Phillips Park estimate tops budget by about $2.3 million

City of Concord staff told council an updated construction estimate for Dave Phillips Park came back at about $5.59 million, roughly $2.3 million over the project’s available balance. Staff presented a package of design changes and alternatives intended to reduce the cost while keeping the park’s core features.

Sheila, the project lead, told council the aviary must be redesigned because the environmental assessment found poor soil conditions; the revised plan removes a shade veil structure and replaces a concrete path with a natural crushed‑fines surface, which she said would save about $155,976. The stormwater path and staircase were recommended for removal after staff concluded they could not be made ADA‑compliant, a change estimated to save about $157,956.

Additional proposed savings included switching terrace‑wall surfacing from veneer stone to pressed concrete and changing turf at the top of a terrace garden to natural grass (combined savings cited at $623,943); changing playground vendors from Earthscapes (Canada) to Burke through the Sourcewell contract and setting a $400,000 all‑in playground budget (savings $455,985); swapping composite decking at an overlook to white pine (savings $16,533); and changing greenway surfacing from asphalt to crushed fines (savings $35,628). Sheila said the total estimate with the proposed value engineering reduced the projected cost to about $3.07 million including general contractor overhead and contingency, leaving the project approximately $407,000 over the bond‑available amount.

Councilmembers pressed staff for clear budget reconciliation. Councilmember Ed asked for the total construction estimate after design and where the available bond balance changed between October and the current estimate; Jessica, a staff member, said the project budget and available balance had been updated previously when the final design was brought to council and that she would provide an updated spreadsheet. Several councilmembers expressed concern that some material substitutions (for example, replacing composite decking with white pine or asphalt with crushed fines) could increase long‑term maintenance costs and asked to keep higher‑life materials as bid alternates.

Sheila said the aviary redesign and the stormwater path removal were necessary because of site constraints and regulatory compliance; she recommended design changes be treated as required and other items be included as bid alternates so council can choose to add them back if bids come in under budget. Council asked staff to return on Thursday with the updated spreadsheet showing bond proceeds, prior adjustments, and the line‑item impacts of all proposed changes so members can decide which alternates to include in the bid package.