CLEAR LAKE (AP) — Work on the second phase of the Clear Lake City Beach enhancement project is underway.
A crew from Peterson Construction of Webster City has been working on the foundation for the new restroom facility at the site for weeks.
“City Beach is going well,” City Administrator Scott Flory said. “I would say they are on schedule or slightly ahead.”
Earlier this month, the Clear Lake City Council unanimously approved a pay application for $76,000 to Peterson Construction for the work it had performed up until Feb. 18, including job site mobilization, shop-drawing reviews, materials and more.
At the time, Flory provided an update on the project from Jason Blome with RDG Planning & Design of Des Moines.
“In the next few weeks, of course depending upon the weather, that should entail pouring of the foundation walls and underfloor plumbing for the restroom building and also excavating the sand trap and manhole drainage structures for the splash pads,” he said.
Peterson Construction was awarded the second phase of the project for $1,087,000 in January.
The estimated cost of the project was $1,206,344 with the cast-in-place concrete wall with manufactured stone veneer and cast stone cap in lieu of dry-stacked boulder walls and additional plants and landscaping.
Peterson was the contractor that built the city’s aquatic center in 2007.
The second phase of the beach enhancement project features the construction of a splash pad, a new restroom facility, a sun shade shelter, landscaping improvements and lighting.
The splash pad will be located northwest and southwest of the new restroom facility and it will contain three zones that can be activated individually.
Each zone comprises water features that are appropriate for different age groups.
The zone northwest of the restroom facility is geared toward young children with smaller water features, like foaming geysers, gushers, split streams and jet streams and fish, frog, leaf and pico vertical structures. The two zones west and southwest of the facility will include “more showy” water features with LED lighting.
The restroom facility will have two stalls for both men and women as well as drinking fountains. It will also store the mechanical equipment for the splash pad as well as the lake aeration pumps.
The sun canopy will be positioned between the water treatment plant and the beach at the former site of the playground equipment.
A committee, comprising members of the City Council, city staff and community organizations, has been working with RDG Planning & Design since June. The city hired the firm for up to 11 percent, or $176,000, of its construction budget, according to the agreement.
The project was identified as a capital improvement in Clear Lake’s 2020 budget. It will replace the original splash pad that was among nearly $400,000 in City Beach improvements completed in 2007.
In November, Dean Snyder Construction completed the first phase of the project, which cost about $237,000, including water main improvements and demolition of the restroom facility and pump shed.
The total cost of phase one and two is estimated at $1.4 million. It’s being paid for by Clear Lake’s general fund that will be reimbursed by the city’s tax-increment financing fund for capital improvement as approved by the City Council.
The work is anticipated to be completed by June 22.