SALISBURY – The City of Salisbury accepted a bid this week and construction will soon begin at a downtown parking lot to build a bioretention system.
Assistant Director of Internal Services Jennifer Miller explained the City of Salisbury Internal Services Department received a recommendation from the Department of Public Works for an award of bid to Clean Venture for the Market Street Stormwater Retrofit Project.
The project will take place in Parking Lot #12 near Main Street Inn and will remove some of the impervious area, restore the shoreline and install a bioretention area to filter stormwater. The construction project is fully funded by State of Maryland of Natural Resources Chesapeake & Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund.
Miller furthered, the bid submitted by Clean Venture originally came in close to $311,000, which was higher than the estimated project budget of about $255,000. Public Works negotiated with the vendor to revise the magnitude of work, such as demolition work is now the responsibility of Public Works, and the project came within budget.
According to Public Works Director Michael Moulds, the purpose of this project is to protect and restore the quality of Salisbury’s local water resources, the Wicomico River and the Chesapeake Bay. The bioretention system will improve the water quality and remove nutrients prior to entering the River. The area drainage to the bioretention system is 100 percent impervious.
As part of this project, four spaces of Parking Lot #12 will be removed for the bioretention system. Runoff from the parking lot will sheet flow into the new bioretention system.
Amanda Pollack of Public Works added DNR, a partner in the project, provided the survey and basemap work for this project at no cost to the city. The project is being designed by the Center for Watershed Protection (CWP). Public Works will provide quarterly updates to DNR during the course of construction. The project is projected to be complete by the end of the year.
In answering council questions, Moulds stated Clean Venture has experience working with the city as it led projects at the Paleo Water Plant. Additionally, traffic flow should not be interrupted as the work is being conducted in the parking lot.
Council President Jake Day pointed out future plans on the books to eventually expand the Riverwalk boardwalk.
“We have had discussion of a future boardwalk extension, so it would have to be palatable to be able to work with it … the design is assuming we will do it,” Moulds responded.
The council voted unanimously to approve the award of bid to Clean Ventures to conduct the Market Street Stormwater Retrofit Project.