AWPF construction bids come in roughly 50% above estimate; district pauses award to review costs and funding

At a special meeting, Carpinteria Valley Water District staff told the board that construction bids for the district’s advanced water purification facility (AWPF) returned far higher than the engineer’s estimate, a gap that could meaningfully raise project financing needs and customer rates.

Chris Malgin, who presented preliminary bid results, said the district received three bids from contractors identified in the packet as Walsh, Shimek and Hensel Phelps. The engineer’s estimate prepared for the project was $42,000,000; the three bids clustered in the low‑$60 million range. Malgin described the bid grouping as “tight,” which staff and the engineer characterized as an indicator that the market price for the work—rather than a single outlier—may be driving the difference.

Public commenter Bob told the board he had discussed the project with the sanitary district general manager and warned residents would face “sticker shock,” suggesting the total program cost could grow…