Wallsburg council: Main Canyon design moving forward; City Park Trail bid comes in far under estimate

Wallsburg Town Council on Sept. 5 was told the Main Canyon Road project design and environmental review are proceeding and that the City Park Trail bid came in well under the town's estimate.

The update came during the council's regular meeting. Troy Ossler, project presenter, said the Main Canyon Road design will be submitted for plan-set approval in about a month and a procurement step (PSA) about two months later, with a goal of advertising the project for bid before year-end. "We anticipate getting that, as we mentioned last month, to PS and or to plan ahead in about a month. 2 months after that, getting PSA with the goal of having that project bid before the end of the year," Ossler said.

The project still requires an environmental review. Ossler added, "we are scheduled to have our archaeologist on-site during this next week, to look at the irrigation ditch that's up there ... one of those historic, potentially historical items that we have to address during the environment." He said that work should be completed in the next week and, after the environmental clearance, the rest of the work can proceed.

The council also heard that the City Park Trail had seven bidders and that the low bidder came in at about 58% of the town's estimate. Ossler said six of the seven bids were within 10% of the engineer's estimate and that the low bidder was "Ginny Gloaplex." He said UDOT awarded the project to Geneva and that the town expected a notice to proceed in about 10 days. "With their bid, they did it completed in 25 working days ... about 3 weeks is what they're anticipating taking to have that project complete," Ossler said.

Ossler told the council the project had been funded in part with UDOT assistance and that the town would return some of the UDOT funds because the bids were lower than expected. He said the town would retain a contingency balance for possible overruns and that roughly $50,000 (round numbers) could be available to add features removed from the original application, such as benches and trees. "That would be my intention, would be to work with the city and add some of those things that we took out ... and we have about $50,000 round numbers that we would have for some of those high buy ups," Ossler said.

Councilmembers discussed timing for construction and turf watering. Ossler said the contract requires completion by Oct. 31 and noted asphalt work is feasible after about Oct. 15 if temperatures allow. He recommended the town reduce irrigation on the park grass a few weeks before construction so heavy equipment does not bog the site.

No formal council action was required on these updates; the Main Canyon item was presented as information and discussion only.

The council asked staff to notify them when the notice to proceed arrives so they can coordinate preconstruction items such as reinstating removed park features.