Troubled Bahama Village park renovation gets another $100,000

 

BY PRU SOWERS

Konk Life Staff Writer

 

Frustrated at the problems plaguing the renovation of two parks in the neighborhood, the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee (BVRAC) voted unanimously Thursday, May 1, to recommend another $100,000 infusion into a project that is already costing over $1.1 million.

 

Nelson English and Willie Ward parks are receiving a facelift that includes new restrooms, playground equipment, landscaping and fixes to repeated drainage problems around the park. A sprinkler system has also been installed, as well as flood-proof walls at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, a new sidewalk and new parking area.

 

http://konknet.com/konk-life/contributors/pru-sowersPlanning problems have hung like an albatross around the project's neck from the beginning. First, the original architect woefully underestimated the cost of the project, submitting a cost estimate of just over $297,000, an amount the city then set aside for the project. But when the lower of two bids came in at just over $1.1 million, officials had to scramble to find the funds necessary to continue.

 

To do that, BVRAC voted last year not to fund several other projects it had already recommended for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) property tax money in 2013. TIF funds are generated from property taxes paid by Bahama Village property owners and used specifically to relieve blight in the neighborhood. The projects that were removed from the 2013 funding list include a structural analysis of the Frederick Douglass Gym and the Petronia Street Connectivity Project. BVRAC also took back $100,000 out of a $310,000 award in 2011 to the local VFW/American Legion.

 

The latest cost overruns include removing a long-disconnected sewer pipe under an abandoned pump house near the Amelia Street parking area, which contractors discovered during the initial excavation. City Planner Don Craig said some required code work was also not included in the original architect drawings for the restrooms and the original landscaping site grade did not take into consideration existing trees.

 

The bathrooms have already been retrofitted to comply with code and the site grade was changed before the brickwork began, Craig said. The cost overruns will total $69,000.

 

Another challenge for the project was that officials did not include a contingency fund with the budget to cover unforeseen issues like the removal of old sewer pipe. Contingency funds are a regular and accepted part of any construction project. Key West City Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who represents Bahama Village, said the contingency fund was left out because at the time, officials were scrambling to find enough money to keep the project going when the higher-than-expected bids came in.

 

“Because of the sticker shock, we asked for the bare minimum amount,” he said.

 

“In retrospect, that probably was an error,” Craig told BVRAC members on Thursday. “We thought we knew everything about the plan, the design, the  [site] survey. We didn't.”

 

BVRAC members voted unanimously to recommend to city commissioners, who have the final say, that another $70,000 be allocated to the project to cover the cost overruns. They also voted to approve creating a $30,000 contingency fund. That money, if unused by the end of construction, will be returned to the TIF fund. Over $927,000 in TIF funds has already been put into the project.

 

“It deserves to be done in a timely manner. It got set back and set back and set back,” said BVRAC Chairman Aaron Castillo. “This park needs to be open.”

 

“I think it's a great value to our city and to Bahama Village,” said BVRAC Commissioner Dr. Nancy Moulton.

 

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