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The city of Daphne has put a big beautification project on hold for at least six months because of the high cost of materials and a shortage of contractors. Bayfront Park was set to get a complete makeover to the sum of close to 10-million dollars.
Darrel Williams is like many visitors to Bayfront Park in Daphne. He visits often to take pictures and has a deep appreciation for its natural beauty.
”That’s pretty cool,” Williams said as a male alligator bellowed near the boardwalk. “Oh, you don’t get to hear that every day. There you go. You can’t see things like that every day and this is unique to this area.”
The city of Daphne recognizes that as well and wants more people to be able to experience what city leaders feel should be destination and centerpiece for this kind of experience along the eastern shore.
“What we’re hoping for is we’re hoping for Bayfront Park to really become the crown jewel park of Daphne and we’re hoping to see Bayfront Park to connect with walking trail, all the way from Bayfront park to Interstate 10,” said Executive Director of City Development, Troy Strunk.
When complete, the new and improved Bayfront Park will have a fountain, splashpad, amphitheater and new pier. The first step is to make it more accessible with a new streetscape leading from Main Street to Mobile Bay. New pavement and sidewalks, tying the park to the city’s existing trail system was supposed to cost the city about $1.4 million dollars and already be underway. Well, that didn’t happen.
“We had to suspend that contract, mutually agreed upon with the contractor,” Strunk said. “He couldn’t hold price on that contract because his sub-contractors weren’t holding their prices.”
So, the project went out for another round of bids.
“We actually had zero bids come back in,” Strunk said of the second try.
That allowed the city to get a quote outside the bid process, but the total came in $1.1 million dollars over budget. Now, the entire project is on hold.
“It’s a matter of patience for the public. We understand the frustration. Look, this is something that we…this is taxpayer dollars, and we need to be fiscally conservative and make sure that we’re spending those taxpayer dollars appropriately,” explained Strunk.
It’s a delay that park visitors like young Oliver Newman and his family understand and are okay with.
“I mean, we come out here every day. We always go down that boardwalk. There’s not much to do but it’s calming and it’s relaxing,” Newman said.
The city of Daphne isn’t alone in in the struggles with contractors and materials. Orange Beach officials said they had to send city crews to Panama City to pick up the scoreboards for their new football field because the shipping company was short on drivers.
Daphne will put phase one back out for bids in six months.
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