Council defers tender for multi-use pad and pickleball courts in Marden, Rockmosa parks

BRUCEDALE – Guelph/Eramosa council has voted to defer a tender for Marden and Rockmosa Park pickleball courts and a Rockmosa multi-use pad, after the total estimated cost vastly exceeded the budget. 

The original budget for the project was $562,000 for both courts and the pad, whereas the lowest tender received was $1,243,809 excluding HST. 

The original budget for the project included the installation of court surfaces only, with little amenities to accompany the project as well as little to no detailed design. 

“As preliminary design progressed, it became evident that the initial scope ... would not adequately support the anticipated level of use or meet operational and accessibility requirements,” states a report from parks and facilities manager Jeff Myer.

The township received four bids for the work (excluding HST), three that included both parks and one that was limited to one park:

• Hardscape Concrete & Interlock for $1,213,795 (both);
• Rice Construction Contracting for $357,000 (Marden Park only);
• Vista Contracting Ltd. for $853,905 (both); and
• Bomar Landscaping Inc. for $834,277 (both).

“To help manage some costs, staff have identified that we have an opportunity to complete some of these provisional items in house, such as the tree planting, water services and electrical,” said Myer.

“There would be approximately about $100,000 savings on that.”

Myer said the additional funding for the project was expected to come from the Rockwood Hydro reserve and the Dolime Fund reserve.

“We know how important the pickle ball courts are and the pad, however, I think the budget is a little higher than we anticipated,” said Mayor Chris White.  

“Now that we’ve had the tenders back and we’re looking at a quite significant increase than what we initially budgeted for and anticipated, I think we’re going to look at trying to scale this back.” 

Councillor Corey Woods echoed the mayor, stating his preference is to get the project closer to what was originally budgeted. 

Council directed staff to defer the multi-use court as well as any non-necessary provisional items such as trees and landscaping.

Council also directed Myer to return to Bomar Landscaping, the lowest bidder, and negotiate a lower price. In the event of failed negotiations, the project will go back out to tender.

Council voted unanimously in favour of those directions.