A lack of availability in a busy construction season and some confusion among contractors so far will likely delay development of St. Joseph County’s newest park in Granger next year. The timing also will depend on weather this fall.
After winning county council approval of $2.1 million in funding in June, county parks officials are eager to build a new park on Anderson Road land they’ve owned for 22 years.
But at their August monthly meeting the parks board rejected the only bid they received, from Indiana Earth Inc. The bid came in at over $6.2 million, about triple the budget.
Parks board President Larry Catanzarite says contractors mistakenly thought they would have to bring in their own dirt for the project, dramatically increasing their cost estimates. But actually Catanzarite says they can move around the dirt that’s already there, where the parks department wants to dig two ponds.
The board has reached out to contractors again and they hope to open a new set of bids at a special meeting Sept. 30. Catanzarite says they still hope to break ground this fall. He says at worst, the grand opening could be pushed back from the spring to the fall of next year, and they also may need to scale back some park amenities if bids stay high.
”Maybe backing off on a couple of what we might call luxury items that we were hoping to get in," Catanzarite says. "We’ve waited 22 years. I guess another six months is palatable.”
