Pacific Marketing of Bainbridge Island was the apparent low bidder for the installation of an ozonator system in the Nakata Memorial Pool.

Pacific tendered bids of $59,622 for the system without installation, $64,749 installed, park officials said during a formal bid opening Thursday evening.

Bids for the contract from two other competitors ranged from $67,000 to $93,000 with installation.

The district had to rebid the project after earlier estimates all came in too high.

The Pacific bid should make the ozonator project possible with available funds, said Terry Lande, district executive director.

The district allocated some $35,000 for the project; the balance was made up through fund-raising.

The ozonator system will obviate the need for heavy chlorination, improving water and air quality in the Nakata pool facility.

The pool building was plumbed for the system during construction, although the ozonator itself was pared out to cut costs. Installation could be completed later this spring, Lande said.

– Douglas Crist

Sidewalks due on Madison

The city and the Bainbridge Island School District will collaborate to bring sidewalks and bike lanes to Madison Avenue north of the roundabout this summer.

Under an agreement to be considered by the City Council next week, the city will cover most up-front costs of the project, estimated at $1 million.

The district will pay $100,000 toward costs upon award of the construction contract this summer, and will repay the balance of its share – estimated at $594,000 total – over a three-year period, at a favorable interest rate financed by the city.

“We really appreciate their working with us on this,” said Bruce Weiland, school board president. “Both entitities have real cash flow challenges, and we really want get this project done.”

The district’s participation fullfills a sidewalk requirement imposed by the city hearing examiner when the district paved the pool parking lot off Madison Avenue in the mid-1990s, Weiland said.

The district’s share of costs was determined by the frontage of school property along the sidewalk route, which also includes a portion of New Brooklyn Road to the Sportsman Club Road intersection.

The project is planned to improve the safety of students coming from the Woodward/Sakai school campus.

School officials have also considered bringing lighting and other non-motorized improvements to an access road that connects New Brooklyn with the high school campus near the bus barn. Funding for those improvements may appear in the district’s next capital bond levy.

– Douglas Crist