City Narrows Park Proposals to Five

Project Parks, the city of 's plan for two new parks and a new aquatic center, is moving closer to construction. The city recently narrowed its search for a development firm from 19 candidates to five finalists.

"Any one of these five firms is going to do a great job," said Gloria Ehll, park board president. "We are all concerned with doing a great job — we owe that to the people that voted for this."

The firms were evaluated on a point system based on the Expression of Interest (EOI) submissions.

City Administrator Dianna Wright said the selection committee looked at each firms expertise and prior experience.

"There is more to building fields than just spreading the dirt," she said. "There are issues of drainage, design, landscaping... We looked at their experience."

Wright and Mary Jo Dessieux, the city's director of parks and recreation, both complemented all submissions.

"These were all very good companies," Dessieux said.

Wentzville posted a request on Jan. 21 for engineering and development firms to submit EOIs for design services relating to the development of Peruque Valley Park, Heartland Park and the new aquatic center Splash Station.

Although the City’s goal is to select a single firm to design both the parks and the aquatic complex, it is open to going with two firms — one focusing on the parks and sports fields, and one focusing on the aquatic center.

Wright said 16 of the 19 submissions partnered to put forward a full park and aquatic center package.

The EOI submittal deadline was Feb. 28, and in early March a five-person panel of city staff members opened and began reviewing the submissions. The panel, which included city engineers along with parks and administrative representatives, reviewed all the EOI submissions, and each panel member provided independent evaluation scores, based on how well the vendor met the EOI Submittal Requirements and Evaluation Criteria. The scores were averaged together, and the top five are the vendors who now move to the next level in the process.

 A portion of the evaluation criteria with this project included the vendor’s proximity to Wentzville, and two of the top five teams chosen to go on to the next level include Wentzville firms.

Other criteria used to narrow the field to the top vendors were the company’s experience on similar projects, current workload of the team companies to ensure they would be able to complete the project, their past record of completing projects on time and on budget, and the experience and time allocation for the different team members.

The interviews and in-person presentations by the five finalists are scheduled for mid April. Afterward, the selection committee will make its recommendation to the Park Board and Board of Aldermen. 

In August 2010, Wentzville voters passed a 1/2 cent parks retail sales tax. The taxable funds began to be collected on Jan. 1 of this year. Based on the collection of the tax, the city could issue bonds to cover the design and construction. 

The parks sales tax generated over the next 20 years will pay the bond debt and operational cost of the new facilities. Construction on the facilities is expected to begin this year.

All three new parks should be completed within two and a half years, depending on the weather and the bidding process. 

Peruque Valley Park

Peruque Valley Park will be located at 1335 South Point Prairie Road. Construction costs are estimated at $11,093,180 for full park development. The phases and costs are as follows. 

Phase I — $5,950,790 funded through sales tax.

• Develop park entry and drive to the four-field node, 
• Develop four ball fields with shelter
• Bridge over central water feature
• Environmental meadow
• Utilities
• Restrooms
• Concessions
• Develop one trail with paved perimeter loop trail on the south side of Peruque Creek
• Begin bio-detention lake site
• Three single table shelters

Phase II — $3,232,050

• Develop three ball fields
• Playground and parking
• Environmental meadow
• Complete aquatic feature
• Maintenance area
• Riparian landscape at water feature
• Dry stream and bio swale

Phase III — $1,405,500

• Destination playground with shelter and restroom
• Loop trail north of Peruque Creek
• Pedestrian trail bridge over Peruque Creek
• Overlook shelter
• Single table shelters
• Trail signage
• Central lake boardwalk
• Park boundary markers and fences

Phase IV — $504,840

• Outdoor classroom with parking lot and lighting 
• Meadow shelter
• Restrooms
• Drinking fountain
• Fire ring
• Adventure play area
• Pedestrian bridge
• General landscaping

Heartland Park

Heartland Park will be located at 1oo Dierberg Drive, just off Wentzville Parkway. It is estimated to cost $8,339,525 for full-park development. The phases and costs are as follows. 

Phase I — $4,384,400 from the sales tax. It includes:

• Entry signage and landscaping
• Parking adjacent to the shopping center
• Two fields on west side and water service for irrigation
• Internal park loop trail
• General landscaping
• Aquatic feature
• Pier and shelter on water
• Boardwalk on aquatic feature
• Riparian landscape and wildlife enhancement at aquatic feature

Phase II — $2,971,260

• Extend Dierberg Drive
• Parking along north side
• Two field on east side
• Center shelter and restrooms
• General landscaping
• Environmental meadow at east end of parking

Phase III — $983,865

• Playground with shelter and walk
• South aquatic feature grading and aeration
• South aquatic feature riparian landscape
• Loop trail connection
• Bridge
• Single table picnic shelters with trail
• Environmental meadow at south aquatic feature
• General landscaping

Splash Station

The new aquatic center was sought by Wentzville residents in the 2004 master plan. The new facility will be located at 1141 Peine Road. To see a video on the project, click here.

Dessieux said Monday in her 2010 year end report that the Wentzville pool had over 53,443 users last year.