Landscaping may delay Lakeside Park opening until September
Renovations at Lakeside Park in Marble Falls include a beach. Staff photo
STAFF WRITER JARED FIELDS
While the city of Marble Falls hoped to reopen Lakeside Park later this summer, landscaping and irrigation work might delay it until September.
During its regular meeting July 16, City Council approved a $210,232 bid by Myers Concrete Construction LP to do landscaping and irrigation work. The company is already handling much of the improvements at Lakeside Park, including the sandy beach, but the landscape and irrigation project wasn’t part of the original contract.
Marble Falls Parks and Recreation Director Robert Moss told the council that city staff had considered doing the work to save costs but soon realized the size and complexity of the project was beyond their capability.
Money would not necessarily be saved doing the work in-house, Moss said. Outside professionals would need to be contracted to help with the project. Besides costs, performing the work within the city also would delay the project’s completion until sometime next spring.
“The soil down there (at Lakeside Park) is a big concern. The soil just goes; it moves fast (during a large rain),” he said. “Because of the timing, we’d expose ourselves to lose a lot of that soil to erosion.”
The more than $210,000 for landscaping and irrigation was not part of the Lakeside Park Improvement Project Phase 1A and will be paid with funds not originally budgeted for the project.
Director of Finance Margie Cardenas said funding would likely come from the sale of a tax note to allow the cost to be paid off over a period of 5-7 years. City Council will discuss funding options during a July 30 budget workshop.
Moss said a timeline for landscaping and irrigation work isn’t available yet, but the extra work for the contractor will likely push the park’s opening date into September.
“As soon as they can start in an area, they’ll start in an area,” Moss said. “They (Myers) were asking me to get a local landscaping company to come out and start their work. They want to get it done as soon as possible.”
As part of the landscaping, Myers will add eight large native shade trees and four ornamental trees to the park as well as shrubs, ground cover, and grass. Irrigation for the area also will be designed and installed.
In another update, officials announced that Myers crews have begun pouring sand this week for the new Lakeside Park beach.
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They think that the soil washes now? Just wait until a flood and we have to pay for all new sand for that high dollar beach. New shade trees is all that we needed to make Lakeside nice!