Approval letters were to be sent today to the top three design teams, which submitted Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) for the proposed Hafen Trailhead Park Water Play Area project.
Ten RFQ applications were received in the Mesquite Development Services office by the June 27 deadline.
According to Brian Dangerfield, Director of the Mesquite Department for Athletics and Leisure Services, the 10 RFQs were turned over to the submittal-review committee on June 28.
They were to score the RFQs and return them to Dangerfield’s office by this morning. The seven firms that did not make the final cut also were to be notified.
Dangerfield told the MLN, that according to the preliminary schedule, which is subject to change, interviews with the top three firms are to be held next week, after which the winner is to be selected to draft and submit the final proposal.
The scope of the project is to be discussed on July 16. Some time after that, the proposal will go to the city council for consideration.
The costs and features in the final plan won’t be known until it’s ready to be presented to the council. But in May 2009 when the Hafen Trailhead Park Water Play Area was first presented to the Clark County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program the rough estimate was the improvements would cost $764,000.
However, the final CDBG award this year was for $421,000. That will reduce the associated amenities.
At the minimum, the water play area would include a cement splash pad, much like the one at the Mesquite Sports and Event Center on upper Bertha Howe Avenue.
A pond tie-in -- a cemented play creek with rocks and pools -- also is fundamental to the plan.
The play creek would be culinary-quality water that would be constantly moving. It would not only be a fun attraction; it also would enhance Hafen Park’s other amenity – the fishing pond.
Nick Montoya, the City of Mesquite Superintendent for the Department of Athletics & Leisure Services, noted that the Nevada Fish & Wildlife Department, which stocks the pond with game fish, has said that by turning the water over in the pond from the play creek, it will provide more oxygen and a healthier environment for the fish. And upgrading the pond pump system will also provide irrigation options for the grass and plants throughout the park, eliminating any water waste.
But the fishpond has another problem besides oxygenation of the water: child safety.
“If I had a little 2-year-old child running around like crazy, I’m going to be afraid of that pond right there,” Dangerfield said gesturing to the steep-sloped fishpond. “So we’re going to have a fenced-in area.”
He said he’s hoping for the area to be between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet, but that will need to await the final cost estimates.
Other possible features, dependent upon the cost, would be the water-toy playground where children could direct streams of water at each other or play through shower falls.
Not all cities visited by Dangerfield and his staff during the due-diligence phase of the project had the water playground equipment as part of their water play areas. Some simply had a large pad.
While adding water toys to the project isn’t decided yet, improving the existent playground area is.
Montoya said the city plans to install “tot turf” to the ground around play structure. It’s durable and safer when children fall down.
But Montoya and Dangerfield won’t know how to proceed until the final scoping is done and cost estimates completed.
The work must fit into that $421,000 CDBG ceiling.
The purpose of the CDBG program is to help fund projects to improve the quality of life for low- to middle-income families. Dangerfield says the Hafen Trailhead Park Water Play Area fits that description.
There will be no charge for families to use the water play area, which will be a benefit for those who are unable to pay the Mesquite Recreation Center’s $2 per child per day rate or who live near the 450 W. Hafen Lane park.