The McLean County Property Committee met on Thursday afternoon and among other items on the agenda was an informational report regarding repaving Recreation Drive and Campground Lane in Comlara Park. The project was let on June the 28th and must be approved at the next Executive Committee meeting on July 11.
H. J. Eppel of Ponitac was the low bidder on the project with a bid of $860,000. The project will be funded using American Rescue Program Act (ARPA) funds.
McLean County Administrator Cassy Taylor told Cities 92.9, “We are very excited to be able to complete a major project out at Comlara Park and that is the rehabilitation and rebuild of some of the roads that have received damage over the years and we haven’t been able to get to that project.”
Taylor went on to say, “ARPA funding is providing us the resource so that we can make these repairs and I think it’s very much needed and will improve the experience of citizens when they come out to the gem of our McLean County Services and that’s our park.”
McLean County Department of Parks and and Recreation, Mike Steffa added, “It’s been a long time coming. The roads have been under disrepair for some years now and we are finally getting some ARPA funds to fix the roads. And we are ecstatic that this is going to get completed this year.”
If you are familiar with Comlara, Recreation Drive is the main street off of Comlara Rd. that goes to the beach house, bait shop, boat rental facility, boat dock and almost all of the picnic shelters. Near the entrance to Comlara Park, Campground Ln. branches off to the right from Recreation Drive and serves the campground area.
H.J. Eppel’s bid was $230,000 lower than Rowe Construction’s bid of $1.09 million.
Taylor told us that the county had about $1.00 million budgeted for the project and that they were happy to see the bids come in at $860,000. The county hopes to use the $140,000 remaining in the budget for a full time project inspector on the site to ensure that they get the best product possible.
Steffa said that much of the damage right now is on Campground Lane. He said that the roadway is cracked, some of the asphalt is gone down to the base, down to the rock and there are a lot of potholes too.
Construction is expected to start right after Labor Day. Steffa mentioned that they will have to work with campers that may want to use the camping facilities in September. Anyone with questions can reach Mike at (309) 434-6770.
