Lakeside Blvd construction postponed

Times Reporter  

 

The main street improvement project scheduled for 2014 was for surface and underground improvements to Lakeside Blvd. On May 7, Jesse Parker, director of operations and engineering with the town, presented council with the tender results for the project. 

The town had received four tenders, ranging in price from $2,615,660.75 to $3,054,709.92. 

“These amounts are significantly higher than our budget for the project itself. I indicated in the background information that our budget for the project was approximately $1.6 million, that was based on pricing that we received for last year’s project on Thomas Drive largely,” said Parker.

“We carried some of that information (forward) to create our budget going into 2014. Unfortunately the pricing and some of the scope of work has increased that price.” 

The lowest bid was from Volker Stevin, a company the town has worked with in the past, and one that comes with good recommendations. 

Parker said that in light of the difference between the budget and the tender one of the recommendations administration has is using the funds for infrastructure replacements. 

At the end of 2013 Parker had approached council about carrying over funds allocated to 2013 infrastructure replacements into 2014. Those funds must be used in 2014, and he suggested that they could be used towards the Lakeside Blvd street improvement project. 

By utilizing those funds there would be an additional $1,090,000 which, when combined with the funds for this year, would compensate for the difference.

“By consolidating those into the $1.6 million that we have for the project itself that will get us to about four per cent above the bid that was the low bid,” said Parker. 

One of the considerations made since determining the budget item is the planned revitalization of downtown and the increased density. With the current system there is not a lot of ability for higher density without increasing the capacity of the water and sewer, which hadn’t originally been planned for. It was suggested that larger pipes would also be needed to accommodate that future growth.

Councillor Rocky Blokland questioned what would be sacrificed if the funds were moved over for the project. By moving the funds it will put the town a year or two behind on some of the planned infrastructure replacement, but at the same time it will be used to replace a significant amount of infrastructure on Lakeside Blvd. 

To change the scope of the project, possibly lessening the amount of work that would happen, it would mean the project would need to be re-tendered.  The town paid approximately $400 a linear metre for Thomas Drive; the Lakeside Blvd the project was over $800 a linear metre, a drastic change in just over a year.  

“I was surprised that, that underground price did what it did, but it was consistent throughout the tenders,” said Parker. 

A suggestion given to administration by other municipalities is that the engineering could be done in the fall of 2014 and they could be ready to tender in January and possibly get started in March or April. There could be weather challenges, but there could be potentially a six-month construction timeline. 

In the town all road construction must be completed before the Heritage Days weekend, which can be tough for a contractor. Parker thinks some of the cost could be a reflection of that extra pressure and the possibility of running behind on finishing the project. 

The risk with doing it after Heritage Days is there could be weather problems; it’s not a lot of breathing room and could potentially raise the price higher.  

“This one (Lakeside Blvd) is essential because as you stated it is the parade route and it is right downtown, but maybe we need a bit of a philosophy change in regards to some of the other roads that we do in this town, that there’s not such a rush to have them always done by Heritage Days,” said Councillor Pat Fule. 

There are some roads in town that aren’t likely to be utilized by people attending Heritage Days, and Fule questioned whether they really need to be done beforehand; will it really ruin the look of the town in people’s eyes, because if it is driving up the price is it worth it?

Council asked Parker or his opinion on the matter. He doesn’t feel the town would be getting great value for their money, and believes it is because of some of the constraints and pressure put on the contractor, but said he isn’t sure how the pricing will be affected if the project is delayed.

“It is a roadway that is the entrance to our town, it’s along our major park, it’s the entrance to the downtown from a revitalization; it was a project we chose to demonstrate our commitment to downtown revitalization,” said Parker.

“There’s an opportunity for us to also set the stage for increased density to the downtown with improvements we make to the infrastructure there’s also that side of things. Yeah we’re not getting great value but it’s never going to be an easy project to do given some of the challenges.” 

Peterson made a motion to postpone the project until January 2015, and to carry the funds, $1.6 million, into the 2015 year to be assigned to the project, and that council direct administration to move forward with tendering in the fall of 2014. 

The motion passed with councillors Fule and John Rempel opposed to the motion.