Council rejects stone details on Skye Park footbridge
Whitefish City Council decided spending an extra $77,000 in tax-increment funds for stone veneer on the Skye Park footbridge was just too much to add to the nearly $800,000 project.
Council Nov. 17 rejected the additional cost in a 4-1 vote. Councilor Richard Hildner was the sole vote against, while councilor Andy Feury was absent from the meeting.
“At this point we need to try to get a functional bridge,” councilor John Anderson said. “We can’t keep chipping away at the [tax-increment funds]. This project is more than I would have preferred in the first place.”
Hildner, who serves on the committee, noted that the bicycle and pedestrian trails committee recommended the veneer.
“We felt it was what would look the best and be consistent with what is along the other paths,” he said. “It’s important in terms of the look we have here in the city. We don’t want a mishmash of design standards.”
By denying the stone veneer, council OK’d using mechanically stabilized earth walls for the retaining walls and abutments. Mechanically stabilized earth walls are constructed with artificial reinforcing with the wall face often made of segmental blocks.
The 10-foot-wide Skye Park bridge will cross the Whitefish River upstream of the train trestle. It will connect the City Beach area near Oregon Avenue to the east end of Birch Point Drive.
Cost estimates for the bridge have continued to increase. In March the project was budgeted at $745,000. However, recent estimates put the bridge at $797,000.
The original estimate was for using the earth walls. The increase in cost from the original estimates breaks down to $129,000 more for veneer or $52,000 more for the earth walls.
The difference in the estimate comes primarily due to an increase in wall quantities, from 800 to 1,900 square feet. The larger quantity accounts for updated information on finish grades, as well as the potential need for additional retaining walls in the northeast part of the project site, according to the staff report by public works director John Wilson.
Wilson did note that he is working on an easement with a private property owner that could bring the cost down by $50,000.
Councilor Frank Sweeney said he supports the bridge, but the city is going to “die from a 1,000 cuts” on the project.
“It seems like every time this shows up, we have an increased cost to deal with,” he said. “What it appears to me now is that we went from are standard veneer and now we’re finding out that’s an add on.”
“A $129,000 cost increase is like a big choke on this kind of project,” he said about including the stone veneer.
Funding for the bridge is expected to come from $360,000 in tax increment finance funds, $350,000 from the state’s Community Transportation Enhancement Program and some from the city water and wastewater funds.
The Skye Park bridge will connect the BNSF loop trail to a planned path along U.S. 93 West via Veterans Peace Park. The path will go through Kay Beller Park to Riverside Park, then back to downtown, creating a loop.