McCall Idaho Headline News

The renovation of Legacy Park on the shore of Payette Lake and improvements to surrounding areas have been dealt a blow after bids came in at twice the amount of money set aside for the work.

The McCall Urban Renewal Agency board rejected bids for the project when all five bids came in at about $6.1 million.

The agency has a $3.1 million construction budget left from $5 million in bonds issued earlier this year. The remainder of the bond was spent on design and engineering, land acquisition and the requirement that $500,000 be kept in a reserve fund.

The agency board appointed member Rick Fereday and McCall City Council member Don Bailey, who also sits on the urban renewal board, to negotiate with contractors, community planning manager Steve Hasson said.

Legacy Park

The agency will try through negotiation on the open market to at least see the building of a parking lot and renovation of East Lake Street as well as some main park features.

Petra Contractors and Knife River Contractors bid those parts of the plan on a combined bid for $4.1 million.

"We've still got to trim $1 million from the budget" to fund the minimum project, Hasson said.
The agency will meet Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. with Hasson to see where the project stands

The original plan was to construct the improvements this year, but-construction will not likely occur until the end of the summer or this fall, Hasson said.

Area businesses can expect Legacy Park to remain open at least through the Independence Day holiday weekend, Hasson said.

The original plan called for improvements to be made to Legacy Park in McCall and the surrounding area. The beach was to be improved and segments of the beach were to be dedicated to various uses, from public swimming to motorized and non-motorized watercraft use to beach volleyball.

Plans call for the existing public restroom building to be removed, and a new restroom to be constructed under a pedestrian promenade that would connect Legacy Park at the Third and Lake streets intersection with Brown Park to the north.

A large parking lot would also be constructed that would have 123 spaces. There would also be parking that requires motorists to back into the spaces along East Lake Street.

The plans also call for East Lake Street to be one-way. One-way traffic would flow south from Pine to the Third Street intersection. One-way traffic on East Lake Street would flow north from Pine to Hemlock streets.