FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – City council has awarded the work for the Sureus Soccer Field Redevelopment project to Northern Legendary Construction of Charlie Lake.
The project includes the installation of irrigation, trail lighting and the development of a trail between the two pitches from 105th avenue to the existing park trail network.
A budget of $2,315,000 was approved for the redevelopment and reconstruction of the two soccer fields at Surerus Park.
Knappett Industries, Northern Legendary Construction, S. Young Enterprises and ACL Construction all submitted bids for the tender.
Knappett Industries was the highest-ranked business with a bid of nearly $2,000,000, and the review team moved on to Northern Legendary Construction with their offer of $1,377,617.26.
The project’s total cost will be $1,588,617.26, over $700,000 under the budgeted amount. It is believed this project will be completed under budget.
Last year, council received a letter from the Fort St. John Soccer Club expressing its frustration with the state of soccer fields.
In the letter, club president Darren Snider expressed 13 years of pent up frustration towards the conditions of the “poorly constructed” fields at Sureus Park and a lack of action from the city.
The city and the club eventually met about the state of the fields.
Jeremy Garner, the public works director, mentioned that the soccer pitches will be closed during this time, and some of the trails will be shut down as well.
“Our trucks have to cross the trails with materials going in and out, so there will be trails that are closed for the day. We’re going to try to have them open in the evenings,” Garner says.
He adds that they are “working very hard to ensure the work is completed so slow pitch can continue.”
The city utilized the best value procurement process for this project instead of awarding the tender to the lowest bidder. The tender closed on April 7th.
“The best value procurement process continues to provide excellent and competitive value for taxpayer money,” said CAO Milo Macdonald in a report to council.
