Me wonders if he was wrong? Who was really (potentially) making a political statement in this scenario? Those that approved it to appease those tired of waiting for it, or Dickie so he looks to be doing the “right” thing by the tax payers?
Also, when was the budget drawn? How much did costs of goods/labor go up in the meantime and how much has the state of tariffs impacted that cost? Was the budget realistic?
Does anyone know that if the project did go to rebid that it would have come in on budget? What if it’s rebid and the same estimates come back. (or worse) Does that happen?
Not unless they either 1) get more bidders, including some smaller outfits that might have lower GCs, or 2) “value engineer” the project, as the article mentioned, to remove some high dollar design choices.
I’m not sure when the budget was put together, but if it was back in 2014 when the plans were drawn up, of course it’s going to be over budget. Material price escalation and labor shortages especially have hit the construction industry hard, leading to higher costs to owners.
It may not be the fault of the current council members, but it is the fault of the city as a whole that Chavis Park has been left behind. It may be more expensive, but that’s not enough justification for making these residents wait any longer. Sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet to do the right thing.
Dickie had little political risk casting the against vote, even if he did decide to run again, because the project isn’t anywhere near his district. In fact, it’s so far removed that a huge number of his district’s residents probably have no idea where this park even is.
If it’s bond money that we’ve already got, I think things like this should/could wait for a recession to be bid and started. I could be wrong but I’m thinking we (the city) would get better pricing as other commercial projects would stall and it’d also put people to work in a downturn. You can’t wait forever but buying high doesn’t seem that smart when forecasts say an economic slowdown is coming within 12 months. JMO.
It’s not always easy to time the market and win, even though the buy low, sell high concept is simple. Economic experts can postulate about when a recession may happen, but they never know for sure.
This isn’t an investment that the city is going to hold and sell later. The community will realize benefits as soon as construction is complete. In the meantime, the park is not in the greatest shape until improvements are made and the community is missing out.
As a resident who is directly affected by a different bond project that has been stalled since 2011, I’d rather see movement than wait until the stars and planets align.
I think there’s a big difference between a bid coming in unreasonably high for the market and a bid that comes in over budget. As others have said, the market may have been quite different when the budget was formulated.
What 2011 stalled bond project are you referring to?
Rosengarten Greenway. There’s a lot of drama.
It might take ten more years…
Oh yeah, that drama!
The more you follow projects, the more you can just “feel” that some things seem to cruise through the process while others seems to drag. This has always been a source of interest and curiosity to me, the very reason I tend to look into things and want to try and understand the process. If possible, I want to try and help.
When you see Dix Park fly through the process of creating a plan for 306 acres but Chavis, an existing park, take much longer to create the plan, you can’t help but wonder what’s going on.
To debate myself, Dix may be easier because it was never a park to begin with. It’s a “new beginning.” Chavis may be more complicated because you have very vocal neighbors running on nostalgia, who want things to be like it was “back in the day.” The history is amazing but is it realistic to bring it all back and expect the same result? And with a new, bigger city, bigger parks budget, is Chavis worth that amount of resources at the possible expense of parks in other parts of the city?
For me, I’m excited for the upcoming changes but there are certainly projects all over the city that drag and drag and drag. (read, never seem to happen even when bond money was approved years ago)
Just some reflection thoughts after reading that N&O article.
According to the Development Approvals page on our Raleigh government website, there were a total of 82 site review cases from last year that have been approved.
From this year? 4.
I know that it may take quite awhile for things to get approved, but like you I wonder what makes some cases fly along and others take an eternity.
https://www.raleighnc.gov/business/content/PlanDev/Articles/DevServ/DevelopmentApprovals.html
Do we know anything about when in the year’s cycle approvals tend to happen?
Are they backloaded typically in the second half of the year? First half of the year? Spread throughout the year?
Groundbreaking will be Sept 6 for this.
Just realized Phase 1 shows a removal of the pool all together and replacing it with a splash pad.
I’m hoping the pool makes a return in one of the phases. I don’t have kids but I don’t understand the appeal for all these splash pads. One would think the pool would create more of a destination and all day attraction, although higher costs. This rendering is nice also:
A pool offers a source for exercise, particularly for those with with mobility issues. Our neighbor was in a wheelchair for 20 years, but drove himself to Pullen Park pool every morning. I support return of the pool.
The master plan shows a new aquatic center, but that building isn’t in the phase I plans. To me it isn’t clear if it just isn’t part of phase i, or if it is no longer part of the master plan.
I hope if they removed it, that was the result of community input. I think originally an ice skating rink was planed, but that was removed bc people in the community didn’t think it was worth the cost.
I’m not sure what the delay has been, but this project seems to be back on track. I think these improvements are going to be really nice. I hope they are bold with the art and design and get things that really resonate with the neighborhood and city.
Everyone, especially in a state like NC, should know the basics of swimming. I sure hope the pool is included in the next phase.
I am not sure if its still true, but for a long time you couldn’t graduate State or Carolina with out passing a swim test, lol.
