Kevcor Contracting Corporation, which was the low bidder at $1,626,828.35 for Phase 2 –North Peach St. and Washington Avenue, is on track to begin work as early as February of this year. Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek reported that the Commonwealth Transportation Board has approved the reallocation of $248K to the Community Trail, Phase 2 project. Panek reported that the town was still waiting for the go ahead from VDOT to actually award the contract. However, Town Manager Brent Manuel has issued the Notice of Award to Kevcor. A pre-construction meeting is planned for later this month.
Breakwaters
Coastal Construction began began work this December and is about 20% complete. The town has received their first invoice for $147.1K. As payments are made, reimbursement requests are being submitted to the grant agencies.
Pine Street Parking
From staff report: “The acquisition of the Bank of America property at Mason Avenue and Pine Street included two undeveloped lots behind the building. Council’s intention was to evaluate the use of this property for additional parking in the downtown business district. The redevelopment of the former grocery store property (including loss of the two parking lots) on Mason Avenue has heightened the interest in developing a Pine Street parking lot. The FY 2016 budget includes $60K for phase one of this project, including a commercial waste management area, alley access, and several parking spots.”
Land Studio, PC, has completed the plans for phase one, and the town in the process of preparing the Invitation for Bids (IFB). At issue is that, in the current environment, construction bids have tended to run higher than what was laid out in the engineering estimate. There is not a high level of confidence with the town that the full scope of phase one can be worked with what has been budgeted. However, according to the staff report, “The Code of Virginia (Public Procurement Act) provides for negotiation with the low bidder if available funds are not sufficient to award the contract, but this provision must be approved in advance by the public body.”
The provisions of the Town Code governing public procurement require that we comply with the Code of Virginia. Accordingly, we propose the following be included in the IFB:
The town is required to follow the Code of Virginia, however if the “bid from the lowest responsible bidder exceeds funds available, the Town of Cape Charles reserves the right to negotiate” with the low bidder to try and get the price within range. The process is to hopefully get the low bidder to “propose priced changes in scope and/or specifications to reduce the contract price, as well as responding to such changes proposed by the Town”.
Although not able to complete the entire project in one phase, the first will be providing a platform which will hold a large, industrial scale Waste Management recycling dumpster, which, for many businesses along Mason Ave, will afford a way to more proactively manage recyclable materials. The estimate for the dumpster and some parking is close to 90k.
It would be a great loss to see the beautiful, mature pecan tree on the parcel of land behind the library cut down to make a few more parking spots. I sincerely hope the town will consider designing the lot in such a way as to save the tree. Part of responsible and attractive urban design is preserving valuable large shade trees. We at the Chess Club, which meets every Thursday on the second floor of the library, enjoy looking out at the tree as we play.
The pecan tree definitely needs to be saved. It is a beautiful specimen. No cars should be allowed to drive within the drip line of the tree. We should also consider using porous pavers for all driving and parking surfaces within this area.