Splash park bids come in above engineer estimates

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Hopes for the splash park project at the Greencastle Aquatic Center in Robe-Ann Park being completed in time to coincide with the traditional Memorial Day pool opening encountered a possible setback at a City Hall bid opening last week.

Two bids were received on the splash park, which is to be built on the site of the former baby pool, Greencastle Park Director Rod Weinschenk told the Park Board at its March meeting.

However, both bids came in above engineers' estimates of $344,000 on the Greencastle Civic League-inspired and sponsored project.

Those bids were received from:

-- R. L. Turner, $387,000.

-- Trisler Construction, $429,387.

"The bad news," Weinschenk told the board, "is that both bids were above what our engineers, Hannum, Wagle & Cline, estimated."

The good news, however, is that the bids do include some items that Weinschenk said could be separated out from the splash park project and done with other park funding.

That includes two ADA-approved parking spaces and a concrete walkway to the nearby tennis courts (which are also slated to be renovated under the 2012 Land and Waster Conservation Grant the city received for the project).

Other items, like shade features for the splash park, may also be eliminated, curtailed or funded differently.

Weinschenk also said it was likely that the fast-track schedule may have pushed the price up a bit.

"We're on a very, very quick timeframe," he said. "That could have been a big factor in this possibly, I'm guessing."

The Park Board will meet again in special session at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall to award the contract if the project cost can be modified to bring it in line with the contractor's bid.

The high bids may have put the Memorial Day opening in jeopardy, but the key date remains for the splash park to be ready for July 4 festivities at the park. A dedication ceremony is being planned as part of the Celebrate 4 event.

"I'm still pushing for Memorial Day," Civic League project co-chair Suzanne Masten said recently in addressing the Park Board.

Regardless, the goal is for the splash park to be open this summer with free admission for local children, culminating more than two years of planning and coordinating efforts.

Local contractor JR Bowling Excavating, Greencastle, was praised by the board for its demolition work on the baby pool and adjacent deck area, completed in two days despite the cold weather at the end of February.

That demolition work, done as an in-kind donation from Jim Bowling and his company, amounted to a $10,000-$15,000 savings for the project.

A typical splash park offers water sprayed, gushed, dumped and poured for enjoyment, like some 21st-century version of the old days of running through the sprinkler at home. The planned facility will have no standing water, thus avoiding any need for lifeguards therein.

The park will be known as the Bob York Memorial Splash Park. Back in December, the Civic League announced that Nick and Rob York of York Automotive contributed the largest single local donation to the splash park project, and in return received naming rights for the facility.

Meanwhile, that undisclosed amount donated by the Yorks also has put the Civic League within striking distance of its two fundraising goals -- $150,000 to match the Land & Water Conservation grant received by the city and $12,000 to start an endowment designed to fund future maintenance and repair of the splash park facility.

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  • I can't wait to splash with my kids!

    -- Posted by DEPAUW11 on Tue, Mar 11, 2014, at 10:14 AM
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