Mass. Town Delays New Playing Fields Because Project is Too Expensive

The town of Natick, Mass. has pushed back the construction of playing fields because bids on the project were $170,000 too high.
 
Town officials recently decided to rebid the project in the fall to get a better price. Instead of looking at 2007 for the fields to open, the town is looking at probably 2008.
 
"The bids were too high, and we were also not satisfied with the number of bids we got," says Town Administrator Phil Lemnios. "We will try again in October."

Natick received two bids from contractors to build the fields, and the lowest bid was from Mountain View Landscapes and Lawncare Inc. for $417,630. The town is also planning to build a storage facility on the 20-acre site. The lowest bid for that portion of the project was from D&D Enterprises at $198,906.
 
The two bid amounts, combined with other costs, exceed the funds available from the town by $170,000, said Public Works Director Charles Sisitsky. Natick allocated $650,000 for the project.
 
Lemnios said the playing fields will be for soccer and other sports. The project was first discussed five or six years ago, when the town decided to stop using the gravel pit.
 
"About four years ago, we started putting the money together for this project," says Lemnios, who added that $250,000 of the $650,000 the town has came from a Mathworks donation.
 
The site is being used to store materials from the Department of Public Works, as well as sand and salt for roads during winter. When the playing fields are done, DPW will use the back of the parcel for storage.
 
Sisitsky says some of the money the town has for the project has already been spent relocating poles, irrigation and redoing roads on the site.
 
The project will be bid again in October, because more businesses will prefer to work on it then, town officials say.
 
"It is our opinion that we will be able to obtain more bidders and more realistic bids at that time," says Procurement Officer Christopher Bradley in a memorandum to Lemnios.
 
In 2001, the Board of Selectmen approved filling in the rocky site to make way for future recreational space. Crushing at the site stopped in 2002. Two years later, DPW employees dismantled a gravel crusher, and piles of material were moved to the back half of the site.
 
Some selectmen say the price offered so far to make the project seems expensive.
 
The $198,906 storage facility, for example, will have no heat and very basic lighting, Sisitsky says.