Approve a professional services agreement with Confluence in the amount of $195,426.50 for design and in-construction services for the Windermere Neighborhood Park.

Award a contract to Cre8Play for design-build services for the Windermere Neighborhood Park observation tower in the amount not to exceed $500,000 and authorize the appropriate staff to execute the necessary agreements.

The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) includes the Windermere Bluff Neighborhood Park project (see attached CIP summary sheet PR-21-005). This project includes a large nature themed playground, an interpretive nature path, hammock groves, and an observation tower on the bluff (see attached park concept plan).

The concept plan was last reviewed by City Council on December 7, 2021. Since then, city staff along with Confluence have refined the concept plan and probable cost estimate to incorporate council and community feedback. The final concept prioritizes nature-based experiences, multigenerational recreation opportunities, and ADA accessibility.

To move forward with final design and then construction, city staff needs assistance from a design consultant to complete the design and in-construction services. City staff have worked with Confluence to develop a scope of work and professional services agreement needed to deliver this work. Confluence has the technical skill, experience and capacity to provide the needed services and is a consultant in the city's consultant pool. The attached Professional Services Agreement authorizes and describes the scope and fee for their work on this project. Confluence has a subcontract with SRF for professional engineering services.

While working on the professional services agreement for final design of the park, staff learned it may be best to hire a design-build firm to construct the tower rather than working with multiple specialized consultants and bidding the project from construction documents.

Cre8Play is a Minnesota-based custom playground design-build firm that does work across the country. They have created a proposal for a tower design-build at Windermere Neighborhood Park (attached). By hiring Cre8Play, we can better control costs, create efficiencies in the process, and benefit from their specialized experience in custom tower design and ADA accessibility.  Once they have concept designs for the tower, we will bring those back to Council.