LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday approved a design contract for the city’s new lakefront park.
The park will be located on two parcels the city recently purchased.
One parcel, an acre and a half in size, is located at 810 N. Main St. and was purchased from the Hotaling family last month for $50,000.
Earlier this month, the city council approved the purchase of the second property, located at 800 N. Main St., from the Lakeport Unified School District. That property is 5.3 acres, with a $660,000 purchase price.
At Wednesday night’s Lakeport Unified School District Board meeting, Superintendent Jill Falconer said she signed all of the documents to finalize the property sale on Tuesday and that the funds will be available to the district on Thursday.
The land acquisitions and the park development are covered by a $5.9 million state grant the city received earlier this year, as Lake County News has reported.
On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager Kevin Ingram presented to the council a professional services agreement with SSA Landscape Architects Inc. of Santa Cruz for planning, design, engineering and project management for the park project.
Ingram told the council that the city received 13 proposals for the design work.
He said he reviewed all of the proposals and narrowed it down to three or four firms. A consultant selection panel analyzed the top proposals and selected SSA, which he said offered a very thorough proposal tailored to the city’s park plan.
The panel also negotiated changes to the not-to-exceed contract amount of $695,000, which comes out to about 11 percent of the total project cost.
Ingram explained during the discussion that the grant guidelines allow for up to 25 percent of the total grant – in this case approximately $1.47 million – to be spent on design.
The project’s scope will include a public presentation before the city council when the firm is at the 35-percent phase of design in order to ensure that the final design is consistent with the public’s vision for the park.
Ingram said the grant’s required timeline to complete the project is “very ambitious,” explaining that it has to be open to the public in the summer of 2022.
City staff is planning to hold a project kick-off meeting with SSA on June 23 and June 24, Ingram said.
He said he expected the construction plans to be developed and put out for bid by year’s end.
Ingram said SSA’s proposal was one of the few that went into the park’s individual features to explore how they should fit together.
“I’m very confident that this is going to be a very good team to work with,” he said.
In some of the initial concept drawings SSA provided, Ingram and council members pointed out that adjustments were needed in some areas – as examples, the event lawn and seaplane area – to reflect the city’s concept. That’s why Ingram said it will be reviewed by the council at the 35-percent design phase.
There was no public comment on the contract before Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve it. Councilwoman Mireya Turner seconded the motion and it was approved 4-0; Councilwoman Stacey Mattina had recused herself because she owns property within 1,000 feet of the park property.
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Lakeport City Council approves design contract for new lakefront park
- Elizabeth Larson
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