Bids for several parts of the work for Phase I of Goodview Park improvements were accepted by Wyoming City Council April 5.The bid from Peterson Landscaping, in the amount of $91,186.75, is for grading the park, installation of the sprinkler system for soccer fields, and seeding soccer fields. The Peterson bid was lower than others submitted because the company can get some of the needed materials on its own property.
City Engineer Lee Elfering recommended accepting the bid after checking with other cities and townships about the quality of completed work.
Council approved the bid from McCullough Well Drilling to drill the well for irrigating the park. Beth Neeck, park board chair, said the bids for work were made on per-foot cost for drilling, estimating a well 250 feet deep. It is known that the water table is high in the area.
The McCullough bid of $29/foot was accepted by council. The firm has a well-known track record in the area.
Neeck told council estimates for electrical work for the project was estimated at $12,000 but bids are coming in at about $7000.
A motion to pave the Sunrise Park parking lot was approved 4-0 vote. Neeck and co-chair, Jennifer Hegsted requested use of park capital funds to pave the lot. The past year funds were cut to the park. The money is available in the capital fund for parks, but Neeck said she fears if the project continues to be postponed, costs to do the work will continue to increase and ultimately put the project out of reach for completion.
The Goodview Park development project was estimated to cost $135,000 but is coming in about $60,000 less than the estimate. Neeck and Hegsted have built a 15 percent contingency on the project into the estimates. Some of the savings from the Goodview project, would shift to the Sunrise paving project.
Wyoming Township offered to grade the park, estimates to grade and gravel, the area is $5000 to $6000. Neeck estimated $18,000 for the asphalt.
CM Sandy Standridge was concerned about the perception of a parking lot for a city park being paved, when there are streets in the city that need substantial work. Mayor Vern Haag said park funds are dedicated to parks work. The state puts roadblocks to the generation of funds for street paving.
Maintenance supervisor Bill Eisenmenger agreed $18,000 ěwould not put a dent into street repair.î Property owners have rejected assessments as a means to improve/repair/upgrade streets, particularly west of the freeway, Haag told council.
Road repairs are not limited to the area west of the freeway. Areas near the old Wyoming medical clinic also need repair. Road repair will reduce repair on ruts and washouts on the streets.
Council updates
Administrator Jill Teetzel reported a combined landscape and nursery company is very interested in locating in the Wyoming Business Park. The location is ideal for visual advertising along I-35, she said.
According to Teetzel, prospective buyers are ěexcited about the site.î It would mean a rezone of part of the L-1 district, similar to Regal Machine, to allow this sort of business in the area.
The proposal is for a combination floral shop, with associated merchandise of nursery and landscape materials, in enclosed areas. The company plans to incorporate an operating fountain display area.
Ryan Companies, working on the Polaris site met with Eisenmenger, Teetzel, City Attorney Tom Miller, and Elfering about aspects of the Polaris test facility. There have been changes in the size of the building; increases from 90,000 square feet, to about 125,000 square feet.
Haag, Teetzel, and CM Lynn Koalska have been meeting about the budget, reviewing expenditure. Part the review will be of engineering and attorney fees.
The city will hold off on hiring any new employees, specifically another police officer, until they know where it stands with the Polaris development.
Water issues
Residents are reminded about the cityís odd-even sprinkling ban. No lawn sprinkling is allowed between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Some homes may be using shallow wells to irrigate, but these need to be identified and documented. A goal of the city is to systematically develop a list of households that use their own wells to water lawns, or pump water from a pond.
A suggestion is to issue permits to those who have alternative water systems, so that reports of sprinkling in violation of the watering ban can be checked against the list.
A first step may be to adopt a permit process form for newly installed sprinkler systems to be certain they are metering all the water used by a household. The city owns the water meters and these can be inspected by the building inspector.
Another concern is sprinkler systems being attached to the city water lines coming into home before the meter. That would mean water theft from the city.
The city staff will develop a plan of action about inspections and enforcement, with recommendations to council for discussion. The city had to present and implement a city water conservation policy to the DNR in order to be granted permission to drill a third well into the Mt. Hinckley Aquifer.
Koalska told council the EDA wants to be more proactive and come to council with ideas for city growth.
With this new management style, EDA can assume some of the duties council members have shouldered in the past.
Recently a survey of businesses was completed about how the city might better serve them, but to date nothing has been done with the information.
According to Koalska, Dave Boniface wants to use these to determine ěwhere we go from here,î staying in touch with businesses is likely to bring in new businesses. He also wants EDA members to meet council.
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