Skate park rebidding slated for next month
Considered firms say second round of bids should produce results thanks to reworked timeline.
The next step toward rebidding Lansdale’s planned skate park project is coming soon.
Council member Mary Fuller reported Wednesday that staff have heard back from companies that chose not to bid on the borough’s planned skate park earlier this summer, and are more optimistic that a second round will produce results.
“As you know, we did not have any bidders the last time around,” Fuller said.
“Carl (Saldutti, Parks director) spoke to all of the people who had an interest in the project, and the feeling was that it was a calendar thing, just what we expected,” she said.
Public talks have been ongoing since early 2016 on whether, where and how the borough should build a skate park somewhere in town, and public meetings were held to gather feedback throughout 2016 and 2017. Council’s Parks and Recreation committee, which Fuller leads, chose a site adjacent to Fourth Street Park, hired a design consultant and architect, refined the design based on public input, then recommended that council authorize advertising for bids, which council did in March.
Those bid documents were posted in June and aimed for construction to be done this fall, but staff announced in July that no bids were received and council authorized a second attempt, with Fuller and Saldutti providing more details Wednesday night on why six firms who attended a pre-bid meeting did not put any bid packages in writing.
“The bidders on the project seem to indicate that a September bid, with a March start date, was a much better timeline for their particular companies,” Fuller said.
“Carl and the committee are getting those bids ready to go out again for September,” with construction to be done in early 2019.
Certain portions may be broken out such as the construction of the concrete bowl skating areas, the stormwater retention area on the west side of the skating area, and the path and concrete wall on the east side, but the overall design of the skate park itself will not change, she said.
“This time, we’ll also do a couple of options, so we can pick and choose and look at the costs,” Fuller said.
Borough officials have said the project will be paid for by roughly $225,000 in a state grant, roughly the same amount in a local match from borough Parking Authority funds received from developer Equus Capital Partners from the sale of the borough’s Madison Parking Lot, and a $46,000 cost for engineering included in the borough’s capital project budget.
“We want to make sure this project comes in at the budget that we set,” Fuller said.
Saldutti said Wednesday that the borough has now gotten written permission from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which administers the state grant funds, to extend the deadline for using those funds by an additional year.
“There’s one document that has to be submitted, yet, back to DCNR — it’s kind of a rubber stamp, but yes, that will be extended through Dec. 31, 2019,” he said.
The second set of bid specifications could be approved for advertisement by council during their Sept. 19 meeting, and council next meets at 7 p.m. on Aug. 15, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.