On May 26, 2020 the city’s design consultant, EDSA, presented a Wildflower/Silver Palm Park project update that included more refined cost estimates. Construction documents are almost 90% complete, so EDSA, staff and vendors were better able to estimate project material and labor costs.
Project Costs
As shown in the attached EDSA presentation slides, the total project cost is now estimated at $11, 008,000. This includes enhancements to both Wildflower Park and Silver Palm Park and an updated connection to both parks under the Palmetto Park bridge. The features being added to both parks are also described in EDSA’s presentation. The consultant indicated that estimated costs are in line with other park projects of similar scale.
City Budget
An issue that was raised during the meeting is that the city budget allocated $8,250,000 for the enhancements to both parks and the bridge connection. The city council discussed a number of options to resolve the disconnect between the estimated costs and the budget. These include reducing the scope of the project, phasing the development and raising money from the private sector. It was also stated that the Covid-19 crisis is putting pressure on existing city budgets and plans.
Next Steps
The direction provided to staff is to prioritize Wildflower Park development and not exceed the allocated budget. This means that some new features planned for Silver Palm Park will not be included in this phase of development. Staff was tasked with updating the feature list and providing a development timeline. These deliverables are to be provided at the next city council workshop meeting or the one after that. Palm Beach County is processing a request from the city to approve the plans for the bridge connection and is expected to approve the request in the September, 2020 timeframe.
The following schedule was updated to show that the city council approved a plan for the parks. The remaining tasks in the schedule will be updated after staff provides the new development timeline in the coming weeks.
