CUMMING -- Renovations at Cumming City Park could begin in earnest next week after officials chose three service providers for the project. During their regular meeting Tuesday night, city council members voted 4-0, with Councilman Ralph Perry absent, to approve bids for demolition, geotechnical and architectural services. Council signed off on a basic conceptual design for the completely revamped park on Pilgrim Mill Road in December. Plans call for the addition of a kids’ splash pad area, an outdoor amphitheater, new playground and “tot lot” areas. Parking will be added throughout, along with a boardwalk nature observation area. A new multi-purpose building also will be added to house offices that are located across the street in an old church building, as well as several rooms for activities such as dance and exercise classes. The project is anticipated to be finished sometime in summer or fall 2015. The park has been closed to the public since late January in preparation for the renovations, which will be funded through an agreement with Forsyth County. The city agreed to provide the county with $5.3 million that it is entitled to from 1-cent sales tax revenue to go toward two new parking decks for the new county courthouse and jail. In exchange, the county agreed to give the city $4 million for the park project. During Tuesday’s meeting, Greg Little, director of the city recreation and parks department, said staff members have been making preparations for the demolition. “We have started removing fences and those kinds of things and we’re getting the baseball lights off the poles, but this [bid approval] will put us in high gear,” he said, noting that everything in the park will have to be removed. “These include the buildings there, the light poles, the swimming pool … all the concrete. Everything in the park needs to be removed for the renovation to begin.” Little said three bids were received for the demolition and removal process. The low bid from Reid & Reid Contractors of Cumming, for about $92,000, was approved by council Tuesday. Council also awarded a bid of about $2,300 for geotechnical services at the site, which will include borings to determine subsurface ground composition, to Oasis Consulting Firm of Roswell. In addition, members accepted a bid from Hamby Architecture and Design Inc., also from Cumming, to provide all design services for the project. Little said now that service providers have been approved, the project will quickly move forward. “Georgia Power is disconnecting all power to the buildings and removing transformers at the park,” he said. “They have one of the transformers and about half the park disconnected … and we should be able to get the rest of that done by the end of this week. “We’ll be ready to start working next week [on demolition].”
CUMMING -- Renovations at Cumming City Park could begin in earnest next week after officials chose three service providers for the project. During their regular meeting Tuesday night, city council members voted 4-0, with Councilman Ralph Perry absent, to approve bids for demolition, geotechnical and architectural services. Council signed off on a basic conceptual design for the completely revamped park on Pilgrim Mill Road in December. Plans call for the addition of a kids’ splash pad area, an outdoor amphitheater, new playground and “tot lot” areas. Parking will be added throughout, along with a boardwalk nature observation area. A new multi-purpose building also will be added to house offices that are located across the street in an old church building, as well as several rooms for activities such as dance and exercise classes. The project is anticipated to be finished sometime in summer or fall 2015. The park has been closed to the public since late January in preparation for the renovations, which will be funded through an agreement with Forsyth County. The city agreed to provide the county with $5.3 million that it is entitled to from 1-cent sales tax revenue to go toward two new parking decks for the new county courthouse and jail. In exchange, the county agreed to give the city $4 million for the park project. During Tuesday’s meeting, Greg Little, director of the city recreation and parks department, said staff members have been making preparations for the demolition. “We have started removing fences and those kinds of things and we’re getting the baseball lights off the poles, but this [bid approval] will put us in high gear,” he said, noting that everything in the park will have to be removed. “These include the buildings there, the light poles, the swimming pool … all the concrete. Everything in the park needs to be removed for the renovation to begin.” Little said three bids were received for the demolition and removal process. The low bid from Reid & Reid Contractors of Cumming, for about $92,000, was approved by council Tuesday. Council also awarded a bid of about $2,300 for geotechnical services at the site, which will include borings to determine subsurface ground composition, to Oasis Consulting Firm of Roswell. In addition, members accepted a bid from Hamby Architecture and Design Inc., also from Cumming, to provide all design services for the project. Little said now that service providers have been approved, the project will quickly move forward. “Georgia Power is disconnecting all power to the buildings and removing transformers at the park,” he said. “They have one of the transformers and about half the park disconnected … and we should be able to get the rest of that done by the end of this week. “We’ll be ready to start working next week [on demolition].”
