Adopt Resolution #20-170 Accepting Quotes and Awarding Contract for Municipal Plaza Park Fill, Improvement Project #20-10

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to adopt Resolution #20-170 accepting quotes and awarding a construction contract for Municipal Plaza Park Fill, Improvement Project #20-10. 

Background:
The COR Infiltration Basin Improvements produced approximately 8,000 cubic yards of excess sand, which is stockpiled north of the infiltration basins.  Plans to relocate this sand stockpile to the Municipal Plaza park property located north of Sunwood Drive and west of Center Street have been discussed with the Public Works Committee.  The consensus of the Committee was to use this sand for filling Municipal Plaza park as soon as practical.
 
Final plans for The COR Infiltration Basin Improvements determined that 35,000 cubic yards of excess sand would be generated from the project.  Less than half the excess sand was to be used to fill in two low-lying City-owned properties in The COR including the property east of Zeolite Street between Veteran’s Drive and Sunwood Drive, as well as the Municipal Plaza park property.  The remaining sand was to be stockpiled on the City-owned property to the north where the current stockpile is located.
 
Excess sand was never placed on the Municipal Plaza park property due to two issues that arose early in the project.  First, an unmarked fiber optic line needed to be relocated, which delayed construction for a few weeks.  Second, a deep topsoil vein was discovered which further delayed construction and reduced the volume of excavated sand.  The delays in construction and reduction of excess sand resulted in a decision to haul and place any excess sand on the property east of Zeolite Street first.  There simply was not enough time to establish new turf on the Municipal Plaza park property to ensure it could handle the heavy foot and vehicle traffic generated by the Happy Days festival, including all of the site preparation activities that occur a week or two before the festival itself.
 
Upon completion of The COR Infiltration Basin Improvements, Staff surveyed the excess sand that was stockpiled on the City-owned property north of the basins and found the volume to be just under 8,000 cubic yards.  Based on grading plans completed by Bolton and Menk, approximately 8,000 cubic yards will be needed to fill the Municipal Plaza park property.
 
Below is a summary of the work required to relocate the sand stockpile from the City-owned property north of The COR infiltration basins (denoted as site A in the figure included in the attached Request for Quotes) to the Municipal Plaza park property (denoted as site B).  First, the existing topsoil on site B will be stripped down to the underlying granular base material and the topsoil will be stockpiled on the City-owned property to the west (denoted as site C).  The base material will then be tested and documented by Northern Technologies, Inc. to ensure no undocumented fill exists when the work is done.  The stockpiled sand on site A will then be hauled to site B, where it will be dumped, leveled and compacted in one-foot thick layers.  The stockpiled topsoil will then be spread evenly across the top of the compacted sand, then the site will be hydroseeded.  Lastly, site A will be leveled out and seed and mulch will be applied over the existing topsoil.
 
The Municipal Plaza park site will be graded with a generally flat surface that will sheet-flow all stormwater runoff onto the adjacent streets.  Stormwater runoff from site C will continue to pond in low lying areas on site C for short periods of time before infiltrating into the ground.
 
A quote for the work contemplated with this case was requested this spring from the project contractor, Northern Lines Contracting.  They responded that they were not interested in completing the work. Staff then obtained verbal quotes for this work from other contractors and those quotes generally ranged between $55,000 and $63,000.
 
Following Council approval on July 14th, Staff submitted Requests for Quotes for this work to local contractors and received a total of five (5) quotes on August 5th.  A summary of the 5 quotes received is included in the attached resolution.  The four lowest quotes were competitive.  The highest quote was an outlier at over 3 times higher than the lowest quote.
 
Reshetar Systems of Anoka, Minnesota, submitted the lowest quote in the amount of $60,959.00 in accordance with the Request for Quotes, which falls in the middle of the range or verbal quotes previously received for this work. 

Notifications are not required.

Observations:
The 8,000 cubic yard sand stockpile is currently situated on the City-owned property north of the new infiltration basins, which is currently marketed for sale.  Relocating the sand to the Municipal Plaza park site will allow for more timely development of the Municipal Plaza park, remove the stockpile from the City-owned property marketed for sale, and reduce the amount of fill ultimately needed to develop The COR.  It is currently estimated that The COR will require over 300,000 cubic yards of clean fill to fully develop.
  
Alternatives:
Motion to adopt Resolution #20-170 accepting quotes and awarding a construction contract to Reshetar Systems in the amount of $60,959 for Municipal Plaza Park Fill, Improvement Project #20-10. 

As previously discussed, this work was originally proposed to be completed through the COR Infiltration Basin Improvements project, which is being funded by Stormwater funds.  Since this work must now be completed outside of that contract, Staff proposes to use a combination of Stormwater funds and Park Dedication funds as identified below.
 
Stormwater funds are proposed to pay for all work required to load and haul the sand to the Municipal Plaza park property (site B), and to establish new turf on the current stockpile site (site A).
 
Park Dedication funds are proposed to pay for all work required to fill the Municipal Plaza park property (site B) including stripping and stockpiling topsoil; unloading, leveling and compacting the sand in one-foot layers; then re-spreading topsoil and establishing turf.  NTI’s testing services, which are estimated to cost $3,763 per the attached cost estimate, will also be funded from Park Dedication funds. 

Staff recommends Alternative #1 for reasons noted herein.
 
On June 16, 2020, the Public Works Committee unanimously adopted a motion to recommend City Council approval to solicit quotes to relocate the sand stockpile from the COR Infiltration Basin site to Municipal Plaza park. A draft copy of the meetings are attached for reference.
 
Though the Public Works Committee meeting minutes provide direction to complete the work after Happy Days events are over, based on recent discussions with Council it is Staff’s understanding that the Municipal Plaza park property will not be used for Happy Days activities so this work can be completed at any time.  Based on conversations with Reshetar Systems, work may begin as soon as the construction contract is executed and a Notice to Proceed is issued.   

Motion to adopt Resolution #20-170 accepting quotes and awarding a construction contract to Reshetar Systems in the amount of $60,959 for Municipal Plaza Park Fill, Improvement Project #20-10.