As City Council is aware, historically Orange Lake has discharged stormwater into the river with minimal treatment. In an effort to satisfy the water quality element of the City's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, Federal and State grant agreements, the dredging and removal of sediments was completed by the City in March of 2018. Due to the special nature of dredging, it was the recommendation of the design engineer to City staff, the dredging of the lake be performed as a stand-alone project or phase 1 of the restoration and improvements to the lake.
Several other water quality elements were proposed and included in the Orange Lake Restoration and Improvements Project. They included, the installation of several pollution control boxes, the installation of a diffusion system, littoral zone creations, slide gates for flood control, and installation of boardwalks on the west and east sides of the lake as part of the outreach portion overlooking the littoral zone creations. These project elements where considered a phase 2 to the project and were competitively bid out separate from the dredging.
On Wednesday, January 10, 2018 two sealed competitive bids were opened by the City. Bids ranged from the apparent low bid of $1,297,796 to a high bid of $1,462,377. Subsequent to the bid opening, the engineer of record verified documents submitted by the apparent low bidder Augustine Construction, Inc. for errors and submissions. References were contacted and verified and discussions were held with the contractor verifying the scope of work expected by the City. The engineer of record has attached the engineering recommendation for City Council’s review and consideration for approval to award the bid and enter into a contract with Augustine Construction, Inc., for the improvements to Orange Lake. As City Council is aware, staff has worked with Augustine Construction, Inc. on several projects such as the Marine Pkwy Multi-Use Path and the 2016 Stormwater Improvements Project.