For decades it was nothing more than a concept, a vision for the future, but since 2019, development of Kellogg Park on the south side of Pahrump has proceeded in earnest.
Even in the midst of a pandemic, the town of Pahrump and Nye County have managed to continue pushing forward on what will be the town’s first new park in more than 20 years and the momentum gained over the past two years is in no way diminishing, with Nye County commissioners recently awarding yet another construction contract to keep the project pacing onward.
During the Wednesday, Feb. 17 meeting of the Nye County Commission, commissioners unanimously approved the awarding of a contract to Morales Construction, Inc. in the amount of $419,032. This contract calls for construction of a restroom facility as well as on-site wastewater and sanitary sewer.
As detailed in the bidding documents, the project includes, “…an entry way with water fountains, women’s side, men’s side, maintenance storage room, and utilities hallway,” and “pretreatment tank, treatment tank, wastewater treatment system, distribution box, plastic pipe (PVC) and drainage field system.” Morales Construction’s bid outlined a cost of $274,390 for the restroom itself, with the remainder of the price tag covering the installation of the wastewater and sewer systems.
There were just two bids submitted for the restroom contract, the second of which was from Benchmark Contracting Inc., doing business as Cobblestone Construction, in the amount of $676,090.
Commissioners’ enthusiasm for the Kellogg Park project was obvious during the Feb. 17 meeting. Nye County Commission Chair Debra Strickland had hardly opened the item for discussion when commissioner Frank Carbone offered a motion to award the bid to Morales Construction, with an immediate second from commissioner Donna Cox.
“We’re anxious to get this park built, apparently!” Strickland stated with a smile. “I like the fact that we are.”
Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo added, “I agree with you chair, we’re trying to get this done.”
The motion to award passed with all in favor. The contract timeline calls for construction to commence within 10 days of the issuance of the notice to proceed and Morales Construction will have 60 calendar days to complete the project. Funding for the project is coming from the town of Pahrump’s Parks Fund and the town of Pahrump’s Parks Impact Fee Fund.
A total of 80 acres of land has been dedicated to Kellogg Park and the first phase of development focuses on roughly 18 of those acres. Located at the corner of Squaw Valley Road and Bridger Street, the first phase of the park is set to include a formal walking path, three dog parks to allow separate areas for different sizes of canines, a restroom and paved parking.
The official groundbreaking for Kellogg Park took place in May 2019, after which grading and grubbing was performed by Wulfenstein Construction Company at a cost of $549,000. Completed in late 2019, grading and grubbing was followed by the installation of lighting and electrical infrastructure, a job undertaken by Industrial Light and Power for $408,000. The electrical portion was finished in March 2020 and by November of last year, Nye County commissioners awarded the concrete contract to Morales Construction at $143,000. With the restroom contract taken into account, the town of Pahrump has invested a total of $1,519,000 into the Kellogg Park project.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com