Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Despite protest, NLV Council awards $11.1 million park contract

Craig Ranch

An artists’ rendering of the planned Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas. The park will have trails, a 3.5-acre children’s play area, a dog park, picnic grounds with shade structures and water features.

New park site

Beyond the Sun

The North Las Vegas City Council awarded an $11.1 million contract to build Craig Ranch Regional Park to Hardy Construction on Wednesday over a protest from another bidder.

Wiser Construction submitted the second-lowest bid, which was $570,000 more than Hardy’s. Wiser filed a protest on June 3 claiming Hardy lacked the proper contractor’s license to construct a park.

Las Vegas-based Hardy carries a “B” license, which covers general building.

Wiser’s attorney, Evan James, argued to the council that converting the former city golf course into a park is more engineering work than constructing buildings and, therefore, requires an “A,” or general engineering license.

The project requires constructing playground shade structures and bathrooms. Those items account for about 10 percent of the entire contract, James said.

“You can hardly say that 10 percent is the primary purpose of this contract,” he said.

Wiser, which built Wetlands Park, carries an “A” license and would have used subcontractors with the proper licenses to build the structures, if it had been selected for the project, James said.

The city’s Director of Public Works, Qiong Liu, said the city has no legal basis for rejecting the lowest bid submitted by Hardy.

Keith Gregory, Hardy’s attorney, said the playground area and restrooms are the main areas of the park. All engineering work is ancillary, he argued.

Hardy was the contractor for Petitti Park in North Las Vegas and Old Spanish Trails and Spring Valley Park for the county.

Deputy City Attorney Bethany Sanchez said Hardy listed subcontractors with the appropriate licenses.

Following the meeting, James said his clients have not decided whether to challenge the council’s decision in court.

The first phase of the 135-acre regional park will include the entrance, lighted parking, utilities, restrooms, a dog park, lighted trails, picnic shelters and perimeter fencing and is projected to be complete in late 2010.

The city is not contributing to the cost of the park. It is fully funded from the sales of federal lands in the valley through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act.

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