An Aurora City Council committee this week recommended a contract to build a playground shelter and install benches at Wilder Park downtown.
Aldermen on the Infrastructure and Technology Committee voted 5-0 to support a total $296,000 contract with KWCC Inc., of Sugar Grove, for the work. It is the second part of the remake of Wilder Park along the west bank of the Fox River downtown.
The city already approved a $543,708 contract with Copenhaver Construction Inc., of Gilberts, for the Wilder Park renovation.
The improvements include closing River Street for a block and building a red brick promenade, installing special overhead lights on the promenade, building a shelter, installing playground equipment and adding in plantings.
Already, the brick box planters are built, and Coperhaver is in the midst of installing the playground equipment. In a separate vote, the committee this week also recommended a $35,000 change order in the Copenhaver contract for the playground installation.
The new Wilder Park promenade could be used for festivals, food trucks and things to supplement events at RiverEdge Park, which is connected to the Wilder Park area by a pedestrian bridge over the Fox River.
Much of the contract will be paid for by a $365,000 grant the city received from the state for the project. City officials will find money to pay for the rest.
Originally, a separate building was to be part of the project that would have included a small concession stand, and restrooms. But the bids for that were high, and the City Council rejected the bids received and decided to go in a different direction.
That different direction is the $296,000 contract the committee recommended this week.
Instead of restrooms and a concession stand, the project now is a shelter at the playground and 10 benches.
Jason Bauer, deputy city engineer, said when the bids for the new building were so high, the city reevaluated the need for it. He said for whatever events take place at the new Wilder Park, there likely will be portable restrooms, and there also would likely be food vendors or food trucks.
“We really don’t need a concession building,” Bauer said.
City officials are planning on having the new Wilder Park ready by late September or October.
