Coralville City Council rejects bids for Youth Sports Park expansion project

The Coralville City Council voted unanimously to reject all submitted bids for phase three of the Youth Sports Park addition, which may result in a year-long delay for the project.

“This was my first, in 20 years’ recommendation, of rejecting bids,” said Coralville Parks and Recreation Director Sherri Proud, at the council’s May 27 meeting.

The budgeted $1.8 million project would add a 250-foot multipurpose ball diamond, a 350-foot baseball diamond and additional restroom facilities to the existing Youth Sports Park, located at 2480 Dempster Drive. A trail going through the park and connecting to Forevergreen Road would also be added, as well as two batting cages, “if budget/fundraising allows,” the city’s website stated. Funds for the project will come from the Oakdale Research Park TIF district.

The Parks and Recreation department launched a $20,000 community fundraising campaign specifically for the batting cages, which would feature turf flooring and electrical outlets for pitching machines.

“As Coralville continues to grow, investing in recreational infrastructure ensures our community remains an excellent place to live, work, and play,” the city’s website stated.

Bids far exceeded estimate

The submitted bids exceeded the department of engineering’s $1,584,000 estimate by approximately $400,000, going “way beyond the cushion we had,” Ms. Proud told the council. The three submitted bids ranged from approximately $2 million to $1.9 million.

“Most of those were in the completion of the fields themselves, outside of the civil work,” Ms. Proud said. “We are recommending that we reject these bids and go back to our consultants and talk about how we can change up either the structure of this bid, and/or the timing of this bid, so we can get some better pricing.”

One of the new diamonds will compensate for the loss of a ball diamond at S.T. Morrison Park, to make way for the construction of Coralville’s new Recreation Center, Ms. Proud said.

“We do have a little bit of time, and aren't under a rush,” she said. “We were under the impression from talking with contractors that they didn't feel there was enough work out there, but from these bids we are finding that they probably did have enough work and we can do a better job.”

Council member Mike Knudson asked if revisiting the bids could delay the project by a year.

“If we go back to the bid table with two separate packages and do one here yet this summer, and turn the diamonds over for the build-out in the spring, and we seed next September – it's a delay by a year, but we'll be working almost half of that year, and we're giving our contractors a lot more time than we did in this first bid package,” Ms. Proud said.

Council members Knudson and Royce Peterson asked about the cost of building materials, with Mr. Knudson wondering if the effects of tariffs came up at all in bid discussions, with Ms. Proud affirming that it did “a little bit.”

“So the effects of tariffs could be delaying this project. Just wanted to make that clear to everybody,” Mr. Knudson said.

According to the city’s timeline, construction was slated to begin this month after the May 15 bid deadline, with completion estimated by December. Use of the batting cages would follow in Spring 2026, with the facility fully functional by Spring 2027.