Leesburg commissioners addressed cost overruns incurred in the construction of the Susan Street Sports Complex last week, which could total $650,000. The commissioners had approved the renovation of the Susan Street Sports complex at a cost of $10,563,259.42 during the Dec. 16, 2024, commission meeting. Kingdom Construction company was awarded the contract as they were the low bidder. The additional funds requested would bring the total construction budget to $11,213,259.
City Manager Al Minner said the increase was caused by increased wastewater mitigation required by the Saint Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Two civil engineers from the Halff Company, who had worked on the original specifications for wastewater mitigation, told the commissioners that the original bid followed the SJRWMD specifications. However, the water district changed the specifications when it determined that possible runoff from the championship sports field with artificial turf would flow into Lake Griffin, an endangered body of water. The additional excavation and rock filtration drove the project cost up by $751,250.
Commissioner Jay Connell also questioned some of the costs for the artificial turf field as opposed to grass. City Manager Al Minner explained that the turf field was responsible for the need for additional rock underlayment in order to provide water mitigation required by the water district. When Connell suggested that grass would be cheaper than artificial turf Minner indicated that the Lake County grant for the project included the artificial turf as a requirement and that the project has been marketed based on that turf. Minner was concerned that should the city change to grass over turf the county’s one million dollar grant could be in jeopardy. Minner explained that even with the overages incurred the project was still less than the next lower bid during the bidding process which was over $12 million.
Commissioner Mike Pedersen told his fellow commissioners that he had voted against the project when it was proposed at $10.5 million but that he felt that since the project was going forward the city “should do the project right.”The staff recommended that the $650,000 be shifted from the Downtown Parking Lot Project which came in approximately $1.5 million under budget…