Board considers $497K design contract amendment for Wendell Falls Parkway and Eagle Rock Road; town steps in on DOT roads

The Wendell Board of Commissioners considered a $496,995.76 amendment to the town’s design contract with VHB for the Wendell Falls Parkway and Eagle Rock Road projects. Jeffrey Brown, assistant town manager, said the amendment covers added survey work and an expanded project alignment to reach a 60% design level; staff indicated a future amendment to reach 100% design and move toward construction will be brought back in a later fiscal year.

Multiple commissioners asked whether the project scope had grown substantially from the original contract; Brown and Town Manager Mark Collins said the scope did increase in response to development activity and a decision to extend the project limits to Jake May so design and construction can proceed in a coordinated way. Collins emphasized that although the roads are maintained by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the town is advancing and funding work because DOT’s timeline would delay improvements affecting residents.

The transcript records an inconsistency in the presenter’s reported total contract figure: the assistant manager read two different large totals while describing the amended contract. The amendment amount itself was consistently stated in the presentation as $496,995.76; the exact revised total contract figure is unclear in the transcript and should be confirmed in the contract documents before publication.

A motion to approve the contract amendment was made during the meeting; the transcript records discussion and assent, but a roll-call tally for that specific motion is not present in the provided segments.