Article & Journal Resources

By Michael Burge
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

CARLSBAD – Construction of a long-awaited park and swim complex was pushed back two months when the Carlsbad City Council on Tuesday night rejected all bids to build the facility.

The city's engineers estimated it would cost $38.6 million to build the 30-acre Alga Norte Community Park, which would have baseball fields, basketball courts, a skate park, a dog park, three pools, water slides and a circulating “lazy river” for tubing.

A staff report said the lowest of the six bids was $29.3 million by Consolidated Contracting Services of San Clemente – nearly $10 million less than the city's estimate and $3.6 million less than the next-lowest bid.

The highest bid, by Mallcraft of Altadena, was $39 million.

A seventh bidder, PCL Construction Services of San Diego, submitted a late bid that remained unopened, the report said.

On Nov. 9, the day after the bids were opened, PCL protested, saying Consolidated Contracting failed to list all of its subcontractors, a bid requirement.

Bernardo Bros., the second-lowest bidder, wrote that the city should reject the low bid as nonresponsive and accept Bernardo's bid.

The park will be at Alicante Road and Poinsettia Lane in southeastern Carlsbad.

The council voted 4-1, with Councilman Mark Packard opposed, to rebid the project. Packard has voted against the project several times, saying it is too expensive.

Skip Hammann, the city's special-projects director, said the project will go to bid again next month and probably return to the council in February. He said the project would take 18 to 24 months to build.