Why were children kept out of new Triangle Park playground all summer?

Funding, contracts, and weather, made the entire process complicated says the project manager

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

The new playground at 54th St. and Bloomington Ave. looks ready to play on, but the construction fence is still up.

Photo right: Rain has delayed work this fall on the concrete and asphalt trails, as well as the playground surfacing, at Triangle Park. According to MPRB Commissioner Steffanie Musich, weather delays may prohibit this project’s completion this fall. Temporary fill options and ways of curing the pour-in-place surfaces under play equipment are being explored. If not completed this fall, remaining work will be done in 2016 when ground conditions and temperatures meet material requirements. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

Although the playground equipment is installed, work on the walkways and resilient surfacing has been delayed, according to project manager Adam Arvidson.

The exact date when the park will open is still unknown and depends on the weather.

The autumn rains have prevented the contractor from getting proper soil compaction for installing walks and playground surfacing. Because of cool temperatures, it now looks like the playground may not open until next spring. The pour-in-place surface needs temperature to be above 50 degrees for 24 hours.

A complicated process

The entire project became more complicated last fall when the five bids submitted for the new playground came in 30 percent higher than expected.

“We felt that the high bids might be due to the time of year and the scarcity of construction materials at that time,” explained Arvidson. Minneapolis Parks and Recreation rebid the project in February and added trails and the main beach work at Nokomis to gain some economy of scale.

Photo right: Neighbors have questioned why the playground equipment has been sitting there since June but children haven’t been able to play there. The answer is that MPRB bid the equipment and surfacing separately, racing to meet grant fund deadlines. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

“The February bids were good, with two bidders below our estimate. Unfortunately, neither of these two were able to achieve civil rights approval from the city of Minneapolis,” said Arvidson.

“Our only option then, in light of the impending grant funding deadline was to do what we could through other purchasing methods.” MPRB bought the play equipment and let some of the work through per-approved contracts, but those mechanisms have expenditure limits, and they could not do everything through that method.

And so, bids were solicited a third time for Triangle Park, this time without the play equipment and a few other smaller items.

The time lag between these two construction contracts is the reason for the hiatus this summer. The playground equipment was installed by the June 30, 2015 deadline. Then the Park Board began another months-long process to bid work, receive civil rights review and board approval, execute contracts, and begin work with all due diligence in place.

“Would we love for this to move more quickly? Yes,” said Arvidson. “But all these mechanisms are in place to protect the taxpayer and ensure fair, equitable, and transparent expenditures of the community’s dollars.”

Grant funds come with deadlines

MPRB received two Metropolitan Council grants that paid for all the improvements in Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park, including the planning effort and work at the Sandcastle Terrace. However, this money came with non-negotiable deadlines, and if they weren’t met it meant MPRB would lose the money.

The first of these expired on June 30, 2015, and the second will expire on June 30, 2016.

“Our original plan was to complete the 54th St. playground and accessibility improvements at the main beach using the first grant,” explained Arvidson. “When it became clear due to the volatile bidding climate that we would not be able to contract for the entire project in time to meet the June 30, 2015, deadline, we had to get creative.”

The original estimate for the Triangle Park playground itself was $420,000, including a drinking fountain, restroom enclosure, and walkways through the playground. This estimate did not include the Triangle Walk that runs between Edgewater and 54th.

The total of the contracts to install the playground is $637,409, but that includes the Triangle Walk.

This is much more than expected and, is about equivalent to the lowest bids last October.

Arvidson admitted this was a disappointment.

“In an effort to get closer to our project estimate we rebid the project twice, split it in two, hurried like crazy to meet funding deadlines, and ended up (financially speaking) back where we started,” he observed. “In hindsight, this seems like a mistake, but had we last October approved a bid 30% higher than our estimate, I expect that would have come under scrutiny, as well.”

The good news

Because MPRB could not spend all of the first grant on Triangle Park, it was able to complete other work in the Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park, including:

• An expanded main beach, with new beach chairs, accessible paving for the playground, an accessible path to the water’s edge, relocation of the boat/bike rental facility to the north end of the beach (the infrastructure was put in place and the booth itself will move for next season), and a new sand and water wheelchair made available for beach patrons with lower mobility

• Pathway fixes throughout the park, including repaving of some of the worst sections

• New canoe/kayak racks and a dock at the north end of the lake

• Purchase of additional site furniture such as picnic tables and drinking fountains that will be installed beginning next year (this includes a new drinking fountain at the main beach)

• Reconstruction of the Triangle Walkway between Edgewater and 54th St., including an accessible ramp down from Edgewater. This was one of the absolute worst stretches of pathway in the park.

“In all, a concerted effort by several MPRB staff from various divisions allowed us to spend all of the first grant on items that will benefit park users,” said Arvidson. “Though we had quite a few curve balls throughout the past year, we succeeded in not leaving any grant money on the table.”

Upcoming improvements

Next up will be significant trail work at the southern intersection of Cedar Ave. and Lake Nokomis Pkwy.

“This area was a very high priority for most participants in the master planning process,” pointed out Arvidson, who led that process last year.

MPRB will be creating larger pedestrian ramps, wider crosswalks, and easier trail circulation from the pedestrian and bike trails to the crossing. It is also likely (although somewhat dependent on the cost of bids) that a new trail will be built along Cedar between that southern crossing and the bridge, and from the bridge northward to the northern intersection of Cedar and Lake Nokomis Parkway.

“This segment of trail will allow a full circumnavigation of the larger basin of Lake Nokomis without a roadway crossing,” said Arvidson. “We are also looking at a few other substandard trail segments around the lake for rehabilitation if the budget allows.”

Community has been understanding

While he’s been receiving several emails and calls from residents each week inquiring about why the Triangle Park playground is half-done, Arvidson said the community has been very patient and understanding.

“People seem to get the reality, even if they don’t love it,” said Arvidson. “As project manager, I hate that it has taken this playground so long to open. I want to thank community members for their patience.”