East Ridge Council Rejects Bids For Road Work For Bass Pro Shop Development

  • Friday, August 28, 2015
  • Gail Perry
Shirley and Denny Manning
Shirley and Denny Manning

The Bass Pro Shop development at East Ridge has hit another snag as the bids for widening Camp Jordan Parkway came in higher than expected.

 

Officials said the two bids were $2,597,003 by Talley Construction and $2,670,375 by Brown Brothers. Improvements to Exit 1 of I-75 are due to be bid later.

 

Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt said the council had been told by the Arcadis engineering firm that $3 million would cover both the parkway widening and improvements at the exit. He said the freeway work cannot be bid until all approvals are given by the National Highway Transportation Safety Board.

 

He also said he wants the work submitted to all members of the Tennessee Roadbuilders Association, which he said was not done earlier.

 

On Thursday night, Mayor Brent Lambert said the city had pledged to build a “fairly vanilla road,” and made a motion to reject all the bids. He said that the street should be “value engineered” because the very best of available materials is not necessary.

 

In addition to rejecting the bids, the council voted to have all components separated in the next round of proposals. The road itself, landscaping and lighting will all be separated. When the Exit One group puts the new specs together, they will be reviewed by the city manager and head of codes enforcement to make sure the city agrees with the specs before they are bid out a second time.

 At the last council meeting a unanimous vote was made to pitch in $1 million for the road work. The state of Tennessee and Hamilton County also agreed to contribute $1 million each for the project, which adds lanes to Camp Jordan Parkway and makes the freeway exit improvements.

In addition to Bass Pro Shop, developers of Jordan Crossing are planning a number of other retail, restaurant and hotel developments at the site at the entrance to Camp Jordan Park.

Vice Mayor Marc Gravitt said it may take 4-6 weeks to get new bids on the Camp Jordan widening, but he said he did not believe that would hold up the Bass Pro Shop project. He said sewer and electrical work is underway at the site.

He said the road work may take 5-6 months, and Bass Pro Shop is not set to open until next May or June.

Fire Chief and Interim City Manager Mike Williams told the council that he is ready to find an architect for the new fire hall that is replacing the one demolished because of construction of Jordan Crossing. Property has been acquired but a professional is needed to determine what size building the lot can accommodate and to design it. The council decided to ask the planning commission to rezone the property to zero lot line in order to have as much usable property as possible. Its recommendation will then come back for council approval.

 

There is so much activity surrounding the new development and interest in Camp Jordan that Mayor Lambert suggested creating an advisory committee for the park. He said five-year and 10-year plans are needed. Director of Parks and Recreation Stump Martin put together a “blue ribbon panel” of people for this group which he presented Thursday night. It consists of people interested in sports, recreational activities, conservation, fundraising and publicity among other things. He said this panel will help the city to achieve the potential offered by the park. The committee will have no voting authority and there will be no time specified for serving on the committee. The mayor said it was important for people in the surrounding area to participate who have experience and know what has worked and what does not.  With a warning that they should understand East Ridge’s budget, the list was approved.

 

The city manager was given authority to purchase portable radios for both the fire and police departments. Chief Williams said that in five years all radios will need to be replaced because communication technology is changing to all digital. The city will extend the purchases over the next three years to spread out the cost of the 50 that will eventually be needed. He said that because radios used by the fire department are subjected to harsh conditions, they cost more than the ones used by police. Authorization was given to buy 15 police radios at $3,397 each for a total of $50,952. The same amount of money will buy just 10 for the fire department, with a per unit price of $5,059. Grant money will be used for the purchases.

 

A bid was also approved for eight SCBA air packs used by the fire department. These have a unit price of $6,000. The replacement of all air packs in the department will be done in increments so they will not all need to be replaced at one time.

 

Other police equipment that has been purchased includes 14 new laptop computers for police vehicles. Police Chief J.R. Reed told the council that his department has received a grant that will provide from $3,500-$4,800 to buy mounts for the new computers.

 

After hearing a citizen’s request, the council agreed it would be a good idea to hang banners at both ends of Ringgold Road saying “Take pride in East Ridge and Don’t Litter.” Councilman Larry Sewell suggested to also have a clean-up week. Stump Martin said that on one day in October, both Spring Creek and Camp Jordan will be cleaned up by volunteers.

 

Retail Strategies, a consulting company that the city has hired to help promote retail growth in East Ridge, made a presentation to the council detailing work the group has been doing for the past several months. Demographics of the population in the city have been put together to determine businesses to recruit and provide guidelines of who the business should target. They have compiled and will continue to update an inventory of available buildings and property, and represent the city at trade shows among other things.

 

Commissioner Denny Manning took time between the agenda meeting and the regular meeting to tell the council how thankful he was to be there. He said last week as he was waking up from a heart procedure, a blood clot was dislodged causing a stroke. He said, “Because of God’s mighty hand,” he is still alive. He said he was so thankful to be at the meeting and said, “It’s an honor to serve on this board and I love my city.”

 

He said he was inspired to sing a song to the council and all present in the council room titled “It Is No Secret What God Can Do.” He was accompanied by Shirley, his wife of 45 years.

 

 

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