West Chicago committee rejects York Avenue bids after estimates exceed CDBG budget

The West Chicago Infrastructure Committee voted May 7 to reject all bids for the York Avenue area water-main and streets rehabilitation project after received bids substantially exceeded the city’s budget and the county’s expectations for scope.

Staff said the project originally had $600,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding and was conceived as a roughly $2.5 million effort when the application was prepared; the project was later budgeted at about $3.1 million. As design progressed, an engineer’s estimate rose to about $4.5 million and bids returned around $4.2 million — roughly $1.1 million more than the city budget. Staff said the county advised against awarding a high bid and then doing a change order to reduce scope, so the recommended path was to reject all bids, reduce scope (for example, removing some mid-block sidewalks, trimming milling thickness while keeping ADA crossings) and let the county re-evaluate eligibility before re-bidding.

Staff warned the CDBG agreement currently lists a completion date of Feb. 27, 2027, which creates timing pressure; the county can grant extensions but staff indicated they would request roughly four months beyond the existing completion to allow for closeout and reimbursement if the schedule requires it. Staff also said two service locations overlap with the planned lead-service-line replacement project and that staff will try to sequence the contracts so those locations are addressed before final paving.

A committee member raised concerns that temporary winterized patches can perform worse than full paving, and staff said they would coordinate sequencing with the other contract and pursue scope reductions intended to bring the estimate closer to the budget before re-bidding. The committee approved the motion to reject the bids so staff can revise scope and seek county approval for a modified project.