4.1 Staff Report-log house landing ramp discussion
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: February 1, 2017
To: City Council
From: Neil Soltis, Administrator
Re: Review of the revised design for of the Log House Landing ramp project
Background: In January, 2016 the Council approved an agreement with the Carnelian-Marine-St.
Croix Watershed District to work cooperatively on the construction of a public access boat ramp at
Log House Landing. The agreement called for the City and the District to jointly review the design
for the project. Additionally the agreement called for completion of the project by December 31,
2017.
A preliminary design was reviewed by the 2 governing bodies in May, 2016 and a final design
approved in June, 2016. A copy of that design is provided. Requests for proposals were sent out to
24 companies with the responses due by Friday, July 29th. A single proposal, from Pember Construction,
in the amount of $147,855.50 was received. The bid substantially exceeded the cost estimate of
$33,586.90 that was prepared in fall 2015 fall for the Watershed District based on a concept design
that had been subsequently modified to add anchors under the concrete ramp, to increase the
depth of the excavation, and to increase in the thickness of the concrete. The high cost and
lack of responses to the request for proposals could be attributed to a number of factors
including: the timing of the rfp in relation to the construction season, contractors who would
perform this work being fully committed, and the nature of the project which required a number of
steps that need to be taken over an extended period of time.
The bid was rejected with the recommendation that options be evaluated to reduce the cost.
Jim Shaver and I met with Tom Reich, a MnDNR engineer, to look at using concrete planks for the
ramp instead of a poured concrete slab. Based on that meeting a revised project design has been
prepared by MnDNR.
Issue: Should requests for proposal be solicited based on the revised design and, if so, should
the project completion date contained in the cooperative agreement be extended.
Details / Discussion: The revised design utilizes 6’x15’, 7” thick planks for most of the ramp with a
poured concrete transition between the ramp planking and 12’ boat ramp planking provided by
MnDNR. A significant change is the reduction in excavation work since the original plans called for
excavating to a depth of 40” and the placement of 30” of compacted fill. Additionally the original
plans called for a 12’ wide, 10” thick concrete slab. In contrast, the proposed plan calls for minor
regrading of the slope and the placement of the 15’ wide planks over 6” of crushed rock and a
geotextile fabric.
It should also be noted that the proposed design does not include the stairs from the river . The
need for that portion of the work should be discussed since that portion of the project will require
significant excavating in order to install stairs that will remain stable over time.