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Home My WebLink About5/7/2025 Item 4a, McKenzie (2) John McKenzie <johnnimac@earthlink.net> Sent:Wednesday, May To:Advisory Bodies Cc:E-mail Council Website; Avakian, Greg Subject:PRC meeting - Righetti Ranch Dog Park Attachments:DP-RighettiDPCosts.pdf Dear Commissioners, As it is likely your Commission will not be including the dog park in the first phase of developing Righetti Ranch Park, Friends seeks your support in a different approach to getting a basic dog park installed in the not-to-distant future. As your Commission approved the Parks and Rec Blueprint for the Future, you all embraced the City having lots of new and wonderful recreational opportunities, which is a great thing for all of us. The main problem is availability of funds to build these, which is not enough and continues to dwindle each year. To exacerbate this situation, construction prices have soared over recent years, and the existing bidding process usually results in only one bid submitted at prices well over the going rates for materials and labor. One small example of this was the shade sails proposed for the Laguna Lake Dog Park. Parks and Recreation had recently installed similar sails in City Park play areas and estimated these costs around $50,000. The one and only bid submitted for this work at LLP dog park determined it would cost around $450,000. Part of why they suggested such a ludicrous amount is that they probably knew they would likely be the only bid for the City to consider. Luckily, this was an optional task and the City rejected this part of the bid. However, based on this, the costs for other portions of the bid that were approved were likely well above the prevailing wage or normal costs to complete. While it would be great if the City could figure out a way to avoid this in the future, our focus is for the City to pursue other paths and/or funding sources to get some recreational needs met that involve simple construction. Towards this end would be for the City to explore the use of non-profits when there is a common interest between the non-profit and the City, and the non-profit wanting to play an active role. Potentially, non-profits can provide funding, potential expertise on designing and building simple construction elements, and volunteers to help with certain tasks. By taking this approach, there could be substantial City savings and more recreational opportunities could come online much more quickly. For example, we have done some cost research for the ½-acre Righetti Ranch Dog Park that would provide the basic improvements needed for a dog park to function (see attached spreadsheet). This would include the following: install four-foot tall fence using 6” diameter poles with heavy gage wire fencing for two dog areas (see graphic below on general look), double gated entries, service gates, water, all-weather wood chips and essential dog accessories (e.g., waste bag dispensers, trash cans, limited signage, etc.). This spreadsheet shows most of our costs will total less than $23,000 (quite a bit less than the $1 million price tag of the LLP dog park which only has limited improvements, albeit it is 3 acres and it included a few costlier elements). Most of the non-profit group labor would be volunteers. If non- volunteer experts were needed, they would be paid prevailing wages. Other less essential dog park elements would be 1 completed when funding for the balance of the site is obtained which would be no sooner than late 2027, but probably later. There is a good chance that such funding could be available quickly, and that the work could be completed in several months. While we understand that such a decision to use outside sources will need to come from the City Council, we would ask that your Commission express your general support of the Parks and Recreation Department and/or City pursuing outside sources to help meet the City’s recreational needs given the above-mentioned limitations. Let’s not wait years to get the Righetti Dog Park up and running! Thank you! John McKenzie Friends of SLO City Dog Parks 2 3 Item Unit Amount Cost*Subtotal Tax (8.75%) Site Preparation (28,646 sf) Debris removal Weeding (12,000 sf)20 hrs pre-emergent (12,000 sf) 25 lb 10 37 370 32.375 Remove portion of second parallel sidewalk (break up & remove concrete, saw cut ends) Fence (600 lf new, 270 lf existing) - 14 gage)4'x50' rolls 12 78 936 81.9 Locate/mark fence, gate and post locations hrs 8 Tractor $60/hr & operator $80/hr to dig 79 post holes hr 8 140 1120 98 6" diameter peeler core @ 8' intervals 6"x8'79 30 2370 207.375 Fence top and side cap 2'x6"x8'225 12 2700 236.25 Deck screws 3-1/2"5 lb 1 30 30 2.625 5/16" lag screws 3-1/2"5-pack 189 12 2268 198.45 Fence staples 1 lb 8 6.7 53.6 4.69 Concrete 90 lb 79 5.8 458.2 40.0925 Gates Entry 38"x48"4 98 392 34.3 Hardware (hinges, latch)4 31.72 126.88 11.102 Service 2 207 414 36.225 Hardware (hinges, latch)4 31.72 126.88 11.102 Concrete Foundations (2) 6' x 10' Concrete (6" deep for 60 sf =30 cf x 2)60 lb 140 3.85 539 47.1625 Rebar 10 ft 9 2.98 26.82 2.34675 spacers (8/foundation)16 0.45 7.2 0.63 Form lumber/stakes 1 200 200 17.5 Concrete mixer rental, gas daily 1 97 97 8.4875 Wood bark (4" deep for 22,700 sf)cubic yd 278 $25 6950 608.125 Delivery hr 6 150 900 78.75 Righetti Dog Park - Basic Elements - Material Costs Spread bark Water Line extension (150') Trenching Plastic Pipe 10 ft 20 3.39 67.8 5.9325 fittings misc 1 30 30 2.625 Spigots Control valve Tree irrigation? Misc. Trash cans, metal 0 0 dog waste dipensers 4 75 300 26.25 TOTAL *May/2025 Prices obtained from Home Depot, Bunyon Bros, Amazon , Ebay TOTAL Notes 0 volunteers - Remove small construction debris; fill small holes, take to dump if large amount 0 volunteers 402.375 Preen Weed preventer, 25 lb bag = 1,250 sf coverage; volunteers spread it About 300 sf of parallel second sidewalk will be within dog park - it could remain or be removed during this phase or in 2nd phase when City has funding 1017.9 general contractor 1218 2577.375 2936.25 32.625 2466.45 58.29 1-1/4", 1lb box - 83 pieces; 4 staples per post x 79=316; 4 staples per top cap x 79=316; 632/83 = 7.6 498.2925 90 lb bag / hole, extra bag for each gate post; 79 x 0.68= 53.7 cf =1.99 cy 426.3 galvanized steel fence gate; 38"w x 48" tall 137.982 450.225 galvanized steel fence gate; 10' w x 4' tall, two- piece 137.982 586.1625 60 lb bag = 0.45 cf, 63 cf=2.33 cy 29.16675 24" OC, 1/2"; 44'/foundation 7.83 217.5 105.4875 7558.125 playground chips 978.75 0 volunteers Lines would be temporary, assuming replacement when community garden and parking installed volunteers 73.7325 32.625 Would only be done if 10,000 Tree program used for perimeter trees 0 326.25 22275.68