By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

SUAMICO – The village board voted Monday, Jan. 18, to award the Riverside Drive reconstruction project to Peters Concrete for a base price of $559,667, plus a contingency allowance of $55,966 and engineering costs of $60,900, for a total project cost of $676,534 using funds from Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) District No. 2.

Public Works Director Andy Smits said Peters Concrete submitted the lowest bid of the two prime bidders on the project, for which the village budgeted $787,700 this year in TIF District No. 2.

The reconstruction planned this year on Riverside Drive in Suamico’s Historic Downtown between Velp Avenue and Side Street includes storm sewer, sanitary sewer, roadway work and lighting.

The project calls for having a 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the south side for routing pedestrians through the area with a herringbone design for a crosswalk, along with decorative lights 20 feet high with a single mast.

Village Administrator Alex Kaker said Suamico will have to apply for a state trust fund loan for the project because there currently aren’t enough available funds in the TIF District to do the work.

“There’s a lot of flexibility with the state trust fund loans,” he said. “You can do anywhere between two and five years. It would probably be a three- or four-year loan. The loan is through the TIF. It’s not going to be using general fund dollars to pay it off.”

Kaker said TIF District No. 2 is projected to close in 2026 with a fund balance of more than $1 million, while any signed contracts for new projects in the district have a deadline of August 2021.

He said he expects work will get underway around late April to early May.

Roadway reconstruction

Board members also approved a motion to bid out roads recommended to be reconstructed this year, based on current surface conditions using the village’s five-year road reconstruction plan.

The roads to be reconstructed for an estimated $745,000 with $760,000 budgeted in 2021 include Lark Road, Longview Lane, Oak Ridge Lane, Vince Lane, Magy Lane, Elvira Way, Minnie Lane, Weedy Street, Cardinal Lane and Vulcan Court.

“Obviously, the more we can do, the better off we are here from our road standpoint,” Smits said.

The village is planning to increase the amount budgeted annually for road reconstruction with $1 million reached in 2024.

Vickery-Docter Park

The board directed staff to continue the design of Vickery-Docter Park off of Velp Avenue to put together specifications and bid the project out.

The current designs call for nine parking stalls, including one for handicap parking, which Smits said should be sufficient for the park.

He said the project is estimated at $66,745 with $100,000 budgeted this year for the park improvements funded by TIF District No. 2.

Bay Port Heights pond

The board approved a base bid of $17,900 from KCG Excavating, the low bidder out of six companies, for the Bay Port Heights pond dredging and riprap project.

Smits said there will be some additional work from the original bid plan with the contractor adding some riprap to the pond bank along the west end.