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http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/1...de000367692.txt

Awaiting city action, board tables park bids

By Tim Moran
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — When Patriot Park was first established in 1998, the plan was to eventually have four main baseball diamonds with two smaller ones near the southern section of the park.

Now, bids have been submitted from various construction companies to nearly make that goal a reality.

Tim Haas of Haas & Associates Engineering, the designer of a $3 million-plus project that includes the addition of two new baseball diamonds and a new Concessions, Restroom and Storage building near the existing soccer fields, announced the bids at Wednesday night’s park board meeting.

The board officially “tabled” the awarding of the bids, waiting on an ordinance to go through three City Council readings to see how much city funding is agreed to be spent on the project.

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Low bidders differed for each division of the project.

Rieth-Riley, the low bidder for Division A, issued a price of $1,063,932 for that part of the project, which includes five new parking lots and a detention basin.

“It’s going to look a lot like one big parking lot,” Haas said. “We have worked well with Rieth-Riley in the past, and they are very capable of getting the paving and basin built.”

Division B, the part of the project that includes the new CRS building and surrounding water well and septic sewer, was tentatively awarded to Larson-Danielson out of La Porte at a $555,624 cost.

Two new baseball diamonds – 330 feet from home plate to the fence – are part of Division C of the project.

If completed, the two new fields will complete a section allotted for four fields of the same size, larger than the adjacent existing three fields.

The low bidder for Division C is Gough Inc. out of Merrillville. It had that section of the project projected at $1,663,874.

If the council does agree to fund any portion of the project, the Park Board will officially award the bids for the project’s three divisions at its Dec. 7 meeting.

Haas said there are alternate projects his firm presented in case funding for the entire project is not secured.

One eliminates construction of one of the baseball fields, while other alternate plans would take away lighting from either or both of the fields.

The bid totals, however, are set as if the entire project is completed.