The work would be funded through a $112,442 donation from the Henrietta Feldman Trust. Terra Firm submitted the lowest of two qualified bids, coming in under a $103,695 bid from Crimboli Nursery Inc. The contract with Terra Firm will include a 10% contingency of $5,325, bringing the project total to $58,573.

The contract will include maintenance for two planting seasons, including watering, weeding, and replacing dead plants. It will also cover maintenance of plantings made in the fall of 2012 by volunteers at Bryant Community Center, Northside Community Center, the Ann Arbor Senior Center, Fuller Park and Buhr Park Pool and Ice Arena. Those plantings were also funded by the Feldman Trust. Also funded by the trust was work to design all of these plantings. That work was done by InSite Design Studio, an Ann Arbor landscape architecture firm. [.pdf of InSite designs for park plantings]

This brief was filed from the second-floor council chambers of city hall at 301 E. Huron, where PAC meetings are held. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The city received 12 bids on the project, which entails repairing an asphalt walk and game court, adding pathways to the playground that will make the area compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and installing picnic tables, benches and shade trees. The bids ranged from a high of $106,904 by DRV Contractors to the lowest bid, which came from D&J Contracting.

The project would be paid for out of the fiscal 2013 park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

This brief was filed from the second-floor council chambers of city hall at 301 E. Huron, where PAC meetings are held. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Windemere Park is a nearly four-acre parcel on the city’s northeast side, north of Glazier Way between Green and Earhart roads. The tennis courts there have deteriorated, and the city has been looking at options for replacing them. Neighbors had originally advocated keeping the courts in the same location, but the soil there is unstable. Before the area was developed, the current location of the courts was a pond.

Over the past few months, city staff has held two public meetings to seek input on options for locating the new courts. The option recommended by PAC – which locates the courts to the east of the current location – was one that a majority of participants at the most recent public meeting had favored, according to staff and commissioners who attended. That meeting took place on Oct. 8. [.jpg of drawing showing proposed location for the new courts]

Several residents of the neighborhood surrounding Windemere Park attended PAC’s Oct. 16 meeting and advocated for a postponement on the decision. They noted that the fourth option – the one being recommended by staff – had not been presented at the Oct. 8 meeting. Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, later explained that the fourth option had emerged from a consensus of ideas at the meeting.

Berla, who voted against the PAC resolution, felt there was nothing to lose in giving residents another month to review the proposal. But other commissioners believed that moving ahead was the best approach, and that no option would satisfy all residents – especially people with property facing the park. The resolution also recommended incorporating input from residents regarding landscaping around the courts, which was a concern raised by some of the homeowners.

The cost of the project is estimated at around $100,000. Amy Kuras, the city’s park planner, expects to solicit bids this winter, with construction to take place in the summer of 2013.

This brief was filed from the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The 1.32-acre neighborhood park is located on the city’s north side near the larger Dhu Varren Woods Nature Area and Foxfire South Park. An entrance to the park with a small parking lot is located off of Placid Way, across from Tuebingen Parkway. [.pdf map of Placid Way Park.]

According to a staff memo, Michigan Recreational Construction, a Howell-based company, submitted the lowest bid. The work includes replacing the existing play structure and picnic table, and adding benches and landscaping. Funding is available from proceeds of the FY2012 park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

This brief was filed from the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron St., where PAC holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The first, for $893,030 with RMD Holdings, covers the renovation of softball and baseball diamonds at Veterans Memorial Park, Southeast Area Park, and West Park. The second, with Fonson Inc. for $786,536, will cover renovation of roads and parking lots, build paths and improve stormwater management at Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm. Both contracts also include an additional 10% contingency.

The projects were discussed by the city’s park advisory commission and recommended for approval – the Buhr/Cobblestone project on Feb. 28, 2012, and the ballfield renovations on Jan. 24, 2012.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]