Organizers of the Big Howe Improvement Project (B-HIP) near the Queen Anne Community Center have run into funding problems that have forced them to scale back on their original plans.
The playground project, originally estimated to cost $418,000, was supposed to have been finished last year, according to the B-HIP Web site. However, the construction documents and minor revisions made at the request of Seattle Parks and Recreation were just completed earlier this year, according to an April 25 press release from the organization.
But organizers have discovered a problem shared lately by other capital projects that range from the Magnolia library remodel to the light-rail station at Sea-Tac International Airport: Construction bids are coming in significantly higher than original cost estimates.
In the case of B-HIP, construction bids for similar community-based park projects are coming in at around 30 percent higher than expected, according to the press release.
"In addition," the release adds, "the parks department recently stated that B-HIP needed to have all estimated funds in hand before going to bid."
The result is that BHIP organizers have been forced to choose the elements they can afford right now so they can at least break ground this spring.
Left out of initial plans are two socalled additive alternates that can be included later if and when funding becomes available from grants, businesses and individual contributors.
One of the additive alternates is play equipment for children ages 5 and under. The cost for that is $17,133, according to the press release, which adds that the second alternate is a set of racing slides that will cost $11,237.
BHIP co-chair Eleni Ledesma, who sent the News the press release, did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment as of press deadline. But the press release urges anyone with fundraising ideas for the project toe-mail the organization at b-hip@ bighowe.org
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