Costs for beautification project exceed original estimates

Cost estimates for the 11th Ave. beautification projects presented at Tuesday’s city council meeting were higher than expected.

Even though the predicted price tag rose significantly since the city council’s last update on the project, it authorized Baker & Associates to complete plans for a sign and landscaping at the corner of 11th Ave. and Old Post Rd., as well as a walking path along 11th Ave.

The walking path will begin at the intersection of 11th Ave. and Old Post Rd. and will continue north along the west side of 11th Ave. to Summit Dr.

“Again, this is only eight foot wide,” said Barry Swanson, engineer with Baker & Associates. “It’s really built for more walking and those type of access, but usable for bikes.”

Storm water management is included in the designs. One challenge facing the city is a fairly small right of way on some portions of the path, measuring only 17 to 18 feet.

“The issue of course in the narrow sections is you’re not going to have a whole lot of room to put a tree in there if you’ve got an eight foot path and maybe a little swale and then you’re at the edge of your property,” Swanson said.

Trees will be easier to plant and maintain on portions of the path planned for city-owned land where there is more room to spread out, Swanson said.

No matter what type of trees the city decides to plant or if it decides to plant them along the entirety of the path, it should install some sort of drip irrigation system to ensure that the trees establish themselves well, recommended Brett Meyer, also of Baker & Associates. This will add some additional costs to the project.

The probable project costs including the storm sewer and an eight foot wide path made with five inch thick concrete will be around $340,000. Including engineering costs, and contingencies, the price would rise to around $430,000. This cost does not include trees or landscaping.

Although the city only planned to spend around $350,000 for this portion of the project, it might be able to utilize bonus sales tax revenue for additional costs, said Sidney mayor Wendall Gaston.

Right now plans for the “Sidney” sign at the corner of 11th Ave. and Old Post Rd. include a four foot tall stone wall with backlit stainless steel letters spelling the city’s name. The city also plans to landscape around the sign as well as throughout the entire corner where the sign will be installed, near the new gas station.

The landscaping will feature some oak trees, prairie grasses and shrub roses.

“It’s a native design,” Meyer said.

The estimated cost for this project came out higher than the council probably expected, Meyer warned, some of which was due to the irrigation system.

“All these plants are drought tolerant,” Meyer said. “They still do need water, they still do need establishment so we would have to be putting in irrigation to pretty much irrigate the entire site including the grasses.”

In a February meeting, the council was presented with plans for the corner with landscaping only in the area directly around the sign. The council decided it could provide a better welcome to the community if landscaping filled the entire corner. At this earlier meeting, the estimate cost for the sign on the wall was around $70,000 including landscaping and irrigation of the 5,000 square feet surrounding the sign.

With landscaping and irrigation for the entire half acre on which the sign will sit included at Tuesday’s meeting, costs were significantly higher.

Baker & Associates estimated the cost for the wall itself at around $35,000. The price for landscaping would be around $95,000 with irrigation at a cost of around $60,000.

Irrigation is an important part of the project, if the council wishes to landscape the entire area, Meyer said.

“Well, they’re drought tolerant but that doesn’t mean you can’t water them,” Meyer said.

Some of the higher cost can be attributed to the demand for landscaping services this summer.

The additional landscaping as well as higher than expected price raised the project cost from an estimate of $70,000 to an estimate of around $190,000.

The city has $100,000 budgeted for the corner.

It would be possible to trim down the landscaping to cut project costs, Meyer suggested.

Sidney Mayor Wendall Gaston said he would rather finish plans and send the project out to bid before deciding to make any cuts, he said.

“Maybe they (the bids) will come in fine,” Gaston said. “I’m more optimistic.”