The city of Spokane Valley plans to start the first phase of construction soon on a new park in the Greenacres neighborhood.

Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, is the apparent low bidder for that phase with a bid of about $938,000, which came in significantly under the city engineer's estimate of around $1.5 million. The overall project cost has been estimated at about $2.5 million, the city says.

Mike Stone, the city's director of parks and recreation, says the City Council was scheduled to award the project contract on April 5, two days before the Journal was published.

The park site is located at the northwest corner of Long Road and Boone Avenue on an 8.3-acre plot of land. The city bought the site from two different private landowners at a total cost of $612,000, Stone says.

Construction is set to begin in mid-May or early June and should be completed this fall, Stone says.

The new park will be the Spokane Valley's 14th overall and fills a need for a park east of Sullivan Road, where currently there are none, Stone says. He adds that the city expects about 80 percent of the new park's users to come from within a 1 1/2-mile radius of the park.

The plans for the first phase of the park's construction include a parking lot, a playground area, restrooms, an informal amphitheater, a 40-foot-by-60-foot shelter, a multiuse field, walking paths, and a nine-hole disc golf course.

Bouten's bid also includes a total of five project add-ons for which the city requested prices. Stone says he plans to recommend that the city council approve four out of five of those alternatives, one of which will include grading, irrigating, and planting grass through the entire park area, including the portion that won't be developed further until the second phase of work.

"That's a huge bonus because we would have originally had a portion (of the park) that was undeveloped," Stone says.

He adds that because the city hasn't secured funding yet to continue with the second phase of work, the grading and planting of a lawn in that area would allow the entire park to be used by the public until further improvements could be made.

The other projects added to the first-phase plan include a sand and water play area near the playground, a smaller 16-by-16-foot shelter in the center of the park, and substituting concrete for asphalt for the park's perimeter walking path, he says.

Stone says the city has had plans to build a park in the Greenacres area for about 10 years, and that it started pursuing property for it in 2006.

He says community members have been actively involved with the planning process since it began. Michael Terrell Landscape Architect, of Spokane Valley, is the planning consultant for the project.

The new park is being funded partly with $500,000 from the state, and the city is covering the rest of the project cost.