Lighting for new NLV park well above estimates

Diana Sahagun

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

The price tag for the lighting of three youth soccer fields at James Seastrand Park in North Las Vegas has shot up by $90,000.

The City Council will vote Wednesday on whether it should kick in an additional $90,000 for lighting around the fields and jogging path for the city park in the Eldorado master-planned community. In December the council voted unanimously to spend $250,000 on the lighting, based on estimates presented by Pardee Construction Co.

The 23-acre park, slated for completion in mid-June, will be the second largest park in North Las Vegas and the largest park in the northwest part of the city.

Parks and Recreation Director Eric Dabney said Pardee gave the city the $250,000 estimate, but when the actual bids came in, the total was $90,100 over the original estimate.

Because Pardee is building the park, it contracted out in the private sector, he said.

Dabney said he contacted the cities of Henderson and Las Vegas, as well as Clark County, to verify the reasonableness of the lighting costs proposed by Pardee. An electrical engineering firm was also contacted for comparison purposes.

"The cost for the lighting is reasonable," he said. "The council did indicate they want those fields lighted."

If the city decides to fund the lighting, the money will come from the residential construction tax, which assesses a 1 percent fee up to $1,000 maximum on every new residential development. District 3, the area north of Cheyenne Avenue with the most rapid growth in the city, is averaging $400,000 a year in assessment tax, Dabney said.

According to the contract, Pardee will maintain landscaping on the site for 90 days after completion. After the 90-day period, the city will accept ownership and maintain the park at an estimated $212,000 for six months.

The park was named after James Seastrand, the former longtime mayor who was instrumental in opening up the vast northern Las Vegas Valley to development in the 1980s by pushing for the construction of the Eldorado community. Seastrand served 16 years as mayor and six more as a councilman.