Main Avenue sidewalk project put on hold

Only one bid-- 32 percent higher than expected, received for brick paver project

The Clear Lake City Council rejected the lone bid for its Main Avenue Sidewalk Replacement Project Monday night.

Dean Snyder Construction, of Clear Lake, was the only contractors to submit a bid for the work, which was to begin this fall.  The business’ bid of $794,243, was 32-percent higher than the engineer’s estimated cost of the project of $601,890.

Jason Petersburg, the city’s consulting engineer on the project from Veenstra & Kimm, recommended that the council reject the bid and re-bid it early next year.

Petersburg told the Council 10 contractors looked at the specifications for the project, but he believes  no other bids were received due to the time of the year the project was bid, as well as current contractor workload.  The wet construction season has caused some projects to be delayed and that may have impacted Clear Lake’s project, he said.

Other companies who did not submit a bid have also been contacted and they have indicated they would be interested in bidding the project for the 2017 construction season, Petersburg added.

Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory said the city will likely re-bid the project in January, with construction to start next spring.  The work would be halted between mid-June and Labor Day, and then be completed by Thanksgiving 2017.

The Council voted last month to replace the brick paver sidewalks in the downtown area due to ongoing safety issues with the bricks settling unevenly.  This time bricks will be placed into a concrete base, which experts say will make them less susceptible to the freeze-thaw cycles that have caused the current brick paver sidewalks to deteriorate.