Minutes - Parks and Recreation Commission - 07/08/2021

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5.02: Consider Process for Refurbishing the 25-year-old Lake Itasca Boardwalk Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that the boardwalk has served the community well for the past 25 years and is well loved. He stated that the boardwalk now needs to be replaced and he would propose an RFP that would identify how the boardwalk should be refurbished an obtain proposals for that replacement. He stated that if approved by the Commission, staff would bring this forward to the Public Works Committee for consideration. He stated that ideally, he would like to see the replacement occur this winter. Councilmember Heineman asked if the cost estimate is based on today's lumber prices or next year's lumber prices. He asked the urgency of the project and whether it could wait until lumber prices come back down. Parks&Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that in the cost for lumber today, the cost could be approximately $140,000. He noted that he would structure the window for the RFP to be the entire winter which would provide an opportunity for better sourcing and costs. Councilmember Heineman asked if the existing pilings would be reused. Parks &Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood commented that there are areas of the boardwalk that have not shifted at all and therefore a deck—over could be done with expanded width. He stated that if the existing boardwalk were to be entirely removed, that could add an additional $10,000 to $20,000. Commissioner Walker asked if it would make sense to increase the width from six feet to ten feet rather than eight feet if it is this well used. Parks &Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that staff believes that eight feet would be sufficient and if that width is expanded to ten feet that would increase the cost significantly. He noted that ten-foot width would also not be supported by the existing frame/boardwalk in terms of the deck over method. He noted that the additional width could be included as an alternate. He commented that he received zero complaints on the width of the eight- foot boardwalks but has received comments related to the six-foot width. Chair Bennett agreed that it would be helpful to include the ten-foot alternate for review purposes. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood reviewed the benefits to winter construction for this type of project. Commissioner Sis asked if it there are enough boardwalks in the City to package those together with one contractor for maintenance purposes in order to obtain a cost savings. Parks &Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that there are other boardwalks that need maintenance but not to this scale and therefore he would propose to use this one as the first test. He stated that if the process goes well, with good pricing, that concept could be considered going forward. He stated that while it is helpful to have a contractor on board, it can be helpful to bid the project in order to continue to obtain better pricing. Park and Recreation Commission/July 8, 2021 Page 5 of 6