Fresno City Council Approved $264,400 for Park Design Work in District 3
On January 13, 2022, Fresno’s City Council approved an agreement with O’Dell Engineering for $249,400, plus a contingency of up to $15,000, to design three park projects in Council District 3. The contract covers construction documents for South Tower Park and conceptual designs for San Pablo/Highway 180 Park renovations and the Ted C. Wills Soccer Fields project.
South Tower Park would occupy a vacant lot at East Elizabeth Street and North Broadway Street in central Fresno — the site of a former Police Department evidence storage facility. The San Pablo/Highway 180 Park, located at San Pablo Avenue and Belmont Avenue under Highway 180, currently has a tot lot and walking paths. The Ted C. Wills site on San Pablo Avenue north of East Thomas Avenue currently houses portable classrooms for Big Picture Elementary School, where the proposed soccer fields would go.
The Council passed the item on its consent calendar without separate discussion.
The Breakdown
- Total taxpayer cost: $264,400 ($249,400 base agreement plus up to $15,000 contingency)
- Contractor: O’Dell Engineering
- Scope: Design and construction documents (final plans ready for bidding and construction) for South Tower Park; conceptual design (preliminary drawings showing the overall idea, not buildable plans) only for the other two sites
- Location: All three projects are in Council District 3
- Approval: City Council voted yes on January 13, 2022, on the consent calendar
What This Means for You
This contract commits $264,400 of taxpayer money to park design work. Only one of the three projects — South Tower Park — will get construction documents from this spending. The other two get conceptual designs, not buildable documents. The source material gives no construction timeline and no total project cost for any of the three parks.
What to Watch
The material gives no construction timeline, no total project cost for any of the three parks, and no explanation of why $264,400 buys construction documents for one site but only conceptual drawings for the other two.
The staff report says the South Tower site “is currently a vacant lot previously occupied by one of the Police Department’s Evidence Storage Facilities.” The material does not say whether that facility was closed, relocated, or simply torn down.
O’Dell Engineering is named as the contractor, but the material gives no detail on how the firm was selected, whether other firms bid, or what O’Dell’s track record is on city projects.
The material identifies no community input, no public meeting where these projects were discussed before approval, and no timeline. A consent-calendar vote means the Council approved this spending without separate discussion.
