LAKEPORT, Calif. – With the Lakeport City Council having awarded the project bid, the city is now gearing up to move forward with the second phase of the Downtown Improvement Project.
The council voted unanimously to award a contract for $2.9 million to Granite Construction at its April 19 meeting.
However, at the same meeting, the total contract amount was revised to approximately $2,790,804.30 as a result of the council's approval of change order No. 1, which reduced the contract's scope of work by approximately $209,160.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram reported that this second phase of the project will stretch along three blocks of North Main Street from First to Fourth streets.
Under the contract the council awarded, Granite Construction will reconstruct and restripe North Main Street, demolish the existing sidewalks and widen them to 12 feet, install new handicap ramps at intersections, and place new sewer and water infrastructure.
Other improvements will include planting new street trees, the installation of new sidewalk tree grates and decorative sidewalk surfaces, relocating of existing decorative street lights and their power supply, and placement of new storm drainage inlets and lines.
The first phase of the project, completed in the 2007-08 fiscal year, took place in the area of
Third Street and Park Street east of Main Street. It included new sidewalks, street trees and grates, and the construction of a public parking lot north of Lakeport City Hall, as Lake County News has reported.
This current phase of the project was delayed due to – among other things – the end of redevelopment, which had helped fund the improvements. The original, much larger scope of work also was reduced to the current area.
To lessen the impact on local businesses, the city has arranged to have the majority of the construction work carried out at night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Officials said the loudest work will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. or, at the latest, 11 p.m.
“This is a project that's been long in the making. It's been over 10 years since this project started in its original phase,” Ingram told the council at its April 19 meeting, adding that it was exciting for him to be able to present the actual bid award for construction.
He said the project is a very complicated one. When it was put out to bid in February, the city received only two bids, the one from Granite Construction and another that was nearly twice as much.
City staff worked with Granite Construction to reduce the costs, which led to the change order. The cost-saving measures included bringing some of the work in-house, including having city staff plant the new street trees and finish the relocation of the city's decorative lampposts.
As he has done at other public meetings on the project, businessman Ron Campos argued against it on several points, from its impact on business owners to his belief that narrowing the street – which Ingram said is a traffic-calming measure – actually will lead to serious safety concerns.
Despite those issues, the council members gave their unanimous support and voiced their belief that the project will, in fact, improve the downtown.
“I'm excited about what's going to happen,” said Councilwoman Mireya Turner, adding that they were honoring the public input they've gotten for the past decade.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina also said she was excited the project is moving forward.
Turner moved to approve both the contract bid award and the change order, which got a 5-0 vote by the council.
Ingram is scheduled to give the council an update on the project at its meeting Tuesday evening.
He told Lake County News that the city will host a project kick-off meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The meeting's purpose, Ingram said, is to allow businesses and residents to come and meet the construction team and ask questions.
Construction will begin on May 11, with the the first two weeks of work to be “pretty minor,” and consist of potholing and work on the location of underground utilities, with no street closures, Ingram said.
“The real demolition and night-work activities will begin after Memorial Day with paving and major construction work completed prior to Labor Day,” he said.
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