McCall Idaho Headline News

Hillside Landscape Construction of Boise on Tuesday was awarded the bid to rebuild Legacy Park on the shores of Payette Lake in downtown McCall.

The bid by Hillside for $1.9 million would construct the entire project by Dec. 15.

Work could begin soon to take advantage of Payette Lake's low winter water level, McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said.

Construction of the lowest point of a concrete seating wall could be done at low water, and the city is deciding, if it can remove snow from the area to allow construction to begin. Construction of the project will require that most of the park will be closed far most of the summer, Kirkpatrick said.

"Portions of the park may be opened during certain times of the summer," he said. "We are working on a construction schedule with the contractor."

The city's boat ramp will remain open all summer. The jet-ski rental beach area located south of the boat ramp will also remain open throughout the project.

The project, funded by the McCall Redevelopment Agency, will create more beach area and more grassy areas in the park.

The project includes a larger parking lot behind Gravity Sports. A pedestrian promenade will be created along east lake Street above the park that will be wider than the current sidewalk.

A new restroom will be constructed and the volleyball court will be moved to the beach area
south of the boat ramp behind the jet ski beach that is now a parking lot.

Last year, the redevelopment agency set the project out for bids, but the bids came in too high.

The agency began negotiations with Petra. Inc., but decided to rebid the project when Hillside wrote a letter threatening a lawsuit over unfair bid practices.

The project was rebid this winter in which the agency created several tiers to the project so that the bulk of t lie project could be constructed if bids again came in too high.

The agency received five bids for t lie project, Kirkpatrick said.

The agency has $2.3 million remaining from a $5 million bond to complete the project.

The agency used bond funds to retire $588,000 in old debt, $722,000 to buy land for the project. $450,000 in engineering fees, $109,000 to issue the bonds and holds $479,000 in a bond reserve account.

The bonds will be paid back with property taxes from land inside the district, which includes Third Street to Roosevelt Ave. east to Davis Street and north to Brown Park.

A different bidding environment led to the bids corning in below what the agency has to
spend on the project, Kirkpatrick said.

Hillside's bid was about $82,000 higher than a bid by Knife River Corp., of North Dakota.

Knife River's bid of $1.84 million was rejected because two of its subcontractors did not have public works licenses as required by Idaho law and the bid specifications, Kirkpatrick said.