Council approves $645,273 contract amendment for Thirteenth Street sports park playground

The Andover City Council on Jan. 28 approved an amendment to the contract for construction work at the Thirteenth Street Sports Park, using Family Future Forward funds.

Council moved and approved a change order (GMAX A 0.3) with Crossland Construction in the amount of $645,273 to complete the park project adjacent to Fire Station 2. City staff described the park as the final near-term Family Future Forward project; staff said they will pause additional allocations until revenues and remaining needs are evaluated.

Rick (staff) described the playground as the city’s first public play area south of U.S. 54 and said it will include a shade structure over play features to reduce heat exposure for young children. He also told the council that used play features from PEC were donated and are being stored for implementation at the park.

“We will take a pause after this and evaluate where our revenues are and what the actual needs of the next and last piece of this Family Future Forward initiative is,” staff said. On the shade structure, staff said the project responds to repeated public requests for shaded play areas.

Council also discussed parking availability (street parking on Manaha is not restricted) and that some programming, like additional courts, could be added later to open space if desired. The council voted 5-0 to approve the contract amendment.

The approved amendment and staff comments say the park footprint is limited and that construction will proceed without a further design presentation to council; staff said the design is substantially the same as reviewed at a prior workshop. The contract amendment authorizes Crossland Construction to perform the remaining work; staff will return with project closeout numbers after completion.

No construction start or final completion dates were specified in the meeting record presented to council.