Bid On Ben Burr Park Project Lower Than Expected Coman Construction To Get Contract For Job

Work will include a picnic shelter, restrooms, fencing, a natural woodland, landscaping, benches, trees, tables, walkways and a parking lot.

A low bid for completion of Ben Burr Park in southeast Spokane came in low enough to allow the refurbishing of its main playfield, city officials said.

Mike Coman Construction of Spokane submitted a bid of $261,800, plus tax, the lowest of four bids on the project.

“This is a good bid,” said Jim Gibson, project manager for $15 million of voter-approved park improvements citywide.

The Coman bid was about $80,000 below the estimate provided by design engineers on the project.

Work will include a picnic shelter, restrooms, fencing, a natural woodland, landscaping, benches, trees, tables, walkways and a parking lot.

Nearly $130,000 of improvements were put into the park in recent years, mostly through fund-raising efforts of the Ben Burr neighbors.

The main playfield did not get enough grading to prevent dips and rocks from causing uneven turf. The bids opened on Monday included an alternate item for regrading and reseeding the playfield.

Coman bid that portion of the project at $8,300.

Efforts to develop the Ben Burr park site at 45th and Havana date back to 1990 when the city Parks Department purchased the undeveloped property for a neighborhood park.

The fast developing section of the city had no neighborhood park for the children of young families moving into the new subdivisions at the time.

The city repeatedly sought matching money from the state to pay for development of the park, but were not successful.

Residents of the neighborhood mounted a fund-raising drive to start the park’s development, and the city became one the contributors.

Last September, voters approved a city-wide park bond project, which included money for completion of Ben Burr and Grandview parks on the South Side.

“It’s going to get a lot of use,” Gibson said. “It’s going to be nice.”

The Ben Burr Park project was allocated $400,000. Gibson said it appears there will be money left in the Ben Burr budget, which could be used on that project or transferred to other projects. That decision is up to the Park Board.

Last week, bids for completion of Grandview Park came in higher than expected, and an alternate item for an additional play field was cut from the project.

The other three Ben Burr bids were from Nelson Landscape Service of Colbert, at $298,016; Clearwater Summit Group of Spokane, at $287,156; and Three V Plumbing Co. of Walla Walla, at $350,000.