ITID Board Approves Final Adjustments For Park Expansion

The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors.

The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, July 22 held what might be the last weekly board meeting on the completion of Acreage Community Park’s southern extension.

The board, which hired a new contractor last December after delays in finishing the park expansion, has been meeting weekly over the past several months to manage the progress of the park under a new contractor, Loren Jock Trucking.

On July 22, the board approved a punch list of items to be completed related to irrigation, landscaping and electrical work in order to have the park in shape to receive a certificate of occupancy from Palm Beach County.

The four items approved 5-0 by the board were a change order and reduction of retainer with an electrician subcontractor retained by the previous contractor, who had agreed to complete the work, and for additional landscaping costs to extend the irrigation system into landscaped stormwater retention areas.

Project Manager Jim Orth, engineer of record for the park, said the electrical contractor had submitted a change order to the previous contractor for additional 2-inch conduits related to amphitheater sound and communications enhancements requested by ITID during the construction process that had not been authorized by the previous contractor.

“They started out with a change order of around $16,000. We negotiated it down to $7,000,” Orth said, adding that after discussions about grounding concerns for the system, a settlement was reached. “We felt an adjustment needed to be made because most of the work was completed.”

County inspectors also pointed out electrical changes they wanted for the concession stand water heater and exhaust fans.

Orth said the changes required architectural fees to change the original designs.

“The change order that we’re recommending is for $26,207 that included some architectural and engineering fees,” he said.

Another request was for corrections caused by vandalism that had occurred during the construction process. Orth noted that ITID staff was willing to do most of the work, except for a door that had been damaged, at a cost of $900.

Orth also requested approval of a $6,722 change order to expand the irrigation system to include planting beds to nine areas that the original irrigation system had not been designed to reach, as well as plantings in those areas.

“The landscape architect thought that it was a good price for the added value of the project and recommended approval,” he said, adding that there may be irrigation repairs that could exceed $15,000.

As for overall progress, Orth said the paving company is onsite and working between the rain.

“The ballfield contractor is out there grading,” he said. “They’re laser grading, so they should be doing a better job than [the previous contractor] did.”

Orth said the landscaping contractor is progressing with plantings that had been recommended earlier to comply with anticipated county requests, adding that the county had no additional requests, other than revisions to CAD files that had not come through to the county computer system.

The board had one other weekly meeting related to the park scheduled for July 30 that they decided might not be necessary. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 16, with an attorney/client session July 28 and a mobility workshop to discuss roads, sidewalks and trails on Sept. 2.