The city of Dalton is accepting bids on requests for proposals for a planned Prater Alley Stormwater detention project until Friday, April 5.
The local government is also accepting requests for proposals for various renovations and additions to the John Davis Recreation Center until April 18.
Per city documents, the Prater Alley project revolves around a roughly 1-acre site at 310 W. Waugh St., adjacent to City Hall.
“The existing structure and parking lot on the site will be demolished by the owner prior to the start of work,” the city’s bid advertisement reads. “The work includes, but is not limited to, the removal of tress, pond excavation, grading and installation of a modular retaining wall.”
Per the document, the contract duration will be 24 weeks from the initial notice to proceed.
“Bidders must also agree to pay as liquidated damages the sum of $300 per each consecutive calendar day thereafter,” the document reads. “(The) anticipated ‘notice to proceed’ date is tentatively set for April 22.”
The 63-page Prater Alley bid package is lengthy, but it’s a pamphlet compared to the city’s John Davis Recreation Center project manual, which exceeds more than 800 pages.
“The project is a 2020 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) referendum project and the city has contracted with Felker Construction Co. Inc. to serve as the construction manager at risk for the project,” city documents note. “In general the project involves renovations and additions to the John Davis Recreation Center, including the construction of a two-story addition joining the existing two-story brick administration building and a separate pool access building.”
The planned renovations at 904 Civic Drive also include new exterior construction, roofing systems and interior work.
A pre-proposal meeting for that project is scheduled for April 9 at City Hall.
Per city documents, proposals with bids between $500,000 and $999,999 must include a bondability letter, while proposals with bids exceeding $1 million must include a fully executed bid bond in the amount of 5% of the proposed lump sum contract price.
A preliminary construction schedule contained within the bid package anticipates a notice to proceed for the improvements to take place by May 10, with the project as a whole approaching “substantial complete” by Aug. 31.
The local government estimates “final complete” of the rec center project to occur around September 2025.
“The proposed construction includes renovating the 1980s addition and demolishing the remainder of the existing building to create room for the new addition,” a 2023 report from Geo-Hyrdro Engineers Inc. indicates. “The new addition will be constructed in the approximate location of the buildings to be demolished and will include a community room, kitchen, gymnasium with seating, storage space, restrooms and mechanical rooms.”
At a February council meeting, City Administrator Andrew Parker said that the total rec center project will likely carry a full price tag of about $12 million.
“This is somewhat more than what we allocated for in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST),” Parker said at that time. “As we’ve seen in the last four years, that after the pandemic, costs have just appreciated due to material availabilities and workforce issues throughout the country and the world.”
He said that the local government is addressing the shortfall in funding by “reallocation of various funds from the 2021 bond issue as well as some of the excess collections from the SPLOST that have been experienced over the last three years.”