City of Chelan approves review and rebid of Lakeside Park Renovation Plan

CHELAN – The Lakeside Park Renovation project was moved back to the drawing board by unanimous vote of the June 10 city council after bids received for the work were well in excess of the $1,389,790 the city budgeted for the project.

The project was publicly advertised on April 9 and 16 in the Mirror. Public works hosted a pre-bid meeting on site at Lakeside Park on May 1, where five contractors attended.

Bidders could access project documents, including plans, specs, and addendums online through QuestCDN by Berger Associates, a platform city public works uses for their bids as well.

The project elements include:

• Restroom and playground renovations.
• New ADA compliant concrete walkways.
• Beach improvements.
• Mitigation landscaping.
• Other park enhancements.

Bids opened

A pair of bids were received and opened on May 14.

Cascade Central Construction of Wenatchee submitted a base bid of $1,513,480.80.

KRCI LLC of Wenatchee submitted a base bid of $1,630,758.76.

Dock and in-water projects for T-dock replacement and swim area safety replacements were bid separately. Public works estimated the dock project at less than $350,000 and received one bid for $293,931 from locally domiciled The Dock Company. 

The bids exceeded the budget amount by more than $400,000.

“How did we arrive at our original budget estimate?” asked council member Mark Ericks.

Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director, Paul Horne, said the city officially awarded the project four years ago and substantial cost escalation has occurred since then.

“The engineers, the architects provided budget estimates throughout the process,” said Horne. “Unfortunately, they were just off.”

In April 2024, when the Mirror reported that the city was awaiting final official approval of a BLM Land and Water Fund grant for the Lakeside renovation, Horne said the overall estimated cost of the park and dock renovations was $1.2 million. 

Public works staff is working with Berger Partnership to revisit a scaled down renovation plan. Staff is also working with The Dock Company to revise and reduce both scope and costs.

Council member Shari Dietrich asked how and where the city is going to make cuts to avoid another over-budget.

“We are looking at minor edits to the plan. We are not looking at a full wholesale revision,” said Horne. “We are looking at maybe cutting off some the sidewalk length. There is a lot of beach enrichment that we can cut.”

Horne said the original bid had a lot of lump sums, where more itemized unit pricing will provide a mechanism to target cost reductions more precisely.

New timeline proposed

A tentative rebid timeline now looks like this:

• June – Update plans and reduce scope and costs.
• Late June/early July – Re-advertise for bids.
• Mid to late July – Bid opening.
• After Labor Day – Construction commences.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media