Its name has changed.
Its manager has been reassigned. Its scope and costs have been reduced. Its design contract has been restructured.
But after so many recent changes, does the Winslow Way project pass muster with critics of its earlier incarnations?
“My comment is unequivocally no,” Council Chair Bill Knobloch said. “It doesn’t even come close.”
The design contract was winnowed Monday by members of the City Council’s Public Works and Transportation Committee. Nearly all of the public outreach costs were cut as part of an effort directed by the full council last week. Council members said the contract they were scheduled to vote on last Wednesday wasn’t what they asked for because it would have encumbered $1.5 million for the remainder of design, rather than $240,000 for the first of four phases of work.
Monday’s cuts would leave roughly $130,000 worth of work in the first phase, though that number could change slightly since the contract now will be drafted from scratch.
Design firm Heery International wrote a letter to the city last week withdrawing the original contract and saying the work couldn’t be completed in the allotted time.
Deputy Planning Director Chris Wierzbicki said the same timetable will be used in the next contract, but will be pushed back to reflect the delay.
Planners still hope to break ground on the $11.3 million project in 2010; some $1.4 million in optional above ground work could still be added back in should councilors choose.
Six of seven councilors were on hand at Monday’s committee meeting, which was sparsely attended by the public.
Committee members and planners agreed that public outreach wasn’t essential to the next phase of work, which would reconcile the altered scope of the project with its new budget, and better prepare the city to seek an estimated $2 million in grant money.
Some money would be budgeted to continue the project’s web site, but much of the outreach effort will be eliminated until later phases.
The new contract will be drafted soon and could go before councilors on May 28, but more likely in June, Wierzbicki said.
