Centre Region Parks and Recreation selects bids for Whitehall Road Regional Park
Centre Region Parks and Recreation formally selected and approved bids for its Whitehall Road Regional Park, which has been in the works for about 20 years, during its Thursday meeting.
Last week during both a joint meeting of the Centre Region Council of Government’s Finance Committee, members of the Parks Capital Committee, Facilities Committee, and Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority heard an update on the bids that have been received for the long-awaited project. Five options were up for consideration, ranging from dropping the project all together to a total cost of $7,351,247 million.
Of the five options, the members voted — with three nays — to recommend option 2 at a total project cost of $6.9 million and release the additional funds for that option at the general forum meeting, which was planned for Dec. 15. But during Ferguson Township’s Dec. 15 meeting, the board opted to support option 3, which has a total project cost of $6,534,577 and is fully funded. Because option 2 would require releasing additional funds, it needed a unanimous vote from the COG General Forum. The General Forum meeting was canceled after Ferguson was in favor of option 3 and not releasing the contingency funds for the project.
“That option three that we preferred is exactly $1 under the budget, and there is a very, very, very, very, very good chance that we actually are going to be requested to add additional funds to that option,” Ferguson Township Supervisor Laura Dininni said during the meeting.
Other supervisors agreed, though Supervisor Lisa Strickland noted it was a tough decision. She said she was torn and might have gone for option 2 because while it is a regional park, it is in Ferguson Township, so she’d like to see everything in the plan be accomplished. But, she said, the budget and contingency is there for a reason and she’d like to see the bids meet the budget.
“Another reason I’m torn is, this is a regional park. So, I’m thinking regionally and this is not the only priority,” Strickland said. “We have really, really substantial needs in Millbrook Marsh for repairs to the boardwalk and the bathrooms at Hess Fields, just to name two. So, you know, sticking with this budget is really respectful of those other regional parks and that is me trying to think regionally about this park system.”
Strickland ultimately agreed with option 3.
As part of the motion from last week’s Executive Committee, if the vote for option 2 were to fail, the project can proceed with option 3 without a further vote.
The Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority met on Thursday to approve bids and move forward with option 3. Chairperson Kathy Matason thanked the staff for their hard work and the elected officials who “stuck with us” and saw the vision of what was “promised to the community” 20 years ago.
“...It takes me back to a phrase I remember hearing from my childhood and my daughter uses it a lot, and you know, ‘You get what you get and you don’t get upset,’” Matason said. “So we’re not upset. We have what we have … and we’re going to do the best that we can do to give this community what it deserves.
“I would like to say to those elected officials that perhaps didn’t see the vision, remember the phrase that I said. You get what you get. You don’t get upset.”
The Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority approved the following bids for the respective work:
For earthwork, sitework, paving and concrete, Sippel Development Incorporated was awarded the bid of $3,296,759, with a deduction of $39,250 from the base bid due to the scope of work changing.
For landscaping and seeding, Green Valley was awarded the bid in the amount of $536,804.
All bids were rejected for the design and build of the irrigation system, as this option does not have irrigation in the budget.
For fencing, Pro Max Fence was awarded the bid in the amount of $182,931.
All bids were rejected for the alternate synthetic turf, as it’s not currently in this option. There is private fundraising for it but there isn’t enough money at this time, Pam Salokangas, director of Parks and Recreation, said.
For site election, Strouse Electric Inc. was awarded the bid in the amount of $634,922, with a deduction of $75,000 due to a reduction of scope.
For general trades at the restroom building in phase 1 of the project, RT Contracting was awarded the bid in the amount of $422,000.
For plumbing at the restroom, Montgomery Bros. was awarded the bid in the amount of $109,000.
For heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the restroom, Leibold, Inc. was awarded the bid in the amount of $62,000.
For electricity in the restroom and maintenance building, Strouse Electric was awarded the bid in the amount of $93,470.
The bid tally, with the deducts, came in around $4.8 million, Salokangas said, and the final numbers should be within the allotted amount provided without use of the contingency funds. Several items are not included in that total, such as the LED sport field lighting project, the all-ability playground project and signage.
Planning and restructuring for the regional park has been in the works for more than a decade. The 100-acre park, located between state Route 45 and Whitehall Road in Ferguson Township, went through its original master planning process in 2009 and was updated in 2013.
As of March, the park was expected to contain two artificial turf multipurpose fields with LED lights, two grass multipurpose fields, an all-ability and universally accessible playground, parking, a walking path, restrooms and an all-season pavilion. Over the past year, the project has hit snags. In February, the park faced $1.5 million in funding shortfalls.
