Wright City leaders have selected KCI Construction as the contractor for the first phase of construction at a new park on Westwoods Road. What comes next will be months of tree clearing, dirt moving, and utility line installations in preparation for the future development of a 20-acre baseball complex.

The park site is located at the intersection of Westwoods Road and Wildcat Drive. The property consists of 62 total acres, but this phase of work is focused mainly on the front 20 acres.

KCI was the low bidder among eight potential contractors, turning in a bid price of $1.62 million. The next closest company, JTL Construction, bid $1.67 million on the project.

The Wright City Board of Aldermen held a special vote on Jan. 4 to award the contract, during a monthly “workshop” meeting that is normally reserved for discussion only. Aldermen needed to make a decision on the contractor in order for work to begin early next month.

Aldermen voted 3-0 to select KCI Construction. Alderman Nathan Rohr abstained from the contractor selection because he is an employee of KCI.

On top of being the low bidder, aldermen also said KCI offers extensive experience in park construction, including multiple large and recent public park projects in St. Charles County.

“They have experience in exactly what we are trying to accomplish,” said Alderman Ramiz Hakim. “They did a $10.1 million park project for O’Fallon, and they did a $4 million project for St. Charles. ... And the referrals (from those projects) came back good.”

“When you have a company that has done specifically work for parks on that large of a scale, that really set them apart from any of the competitors,” Hakim added.

Alderman Don Andrews said he felt the company’s depth of knowledge was more important than the relative cost from the three lowest bidders.

“For me, experience was the one big factor. ... I didn’t see any background from the others (of the top three) companies that was comparable to just the experience alone,” Andrews said, adding that he isn’t always in favor of taking the lowest cost bid if it means lower quality work. In this case, cost and experience were both in the favor of KCI, he said.

“The citizens have been wanting us to break ground on this park, and we’re finally at a point where that’s going to happen. I look forward to moving forward with the park,” Andrews said.

In this first phase of park construction, KCI will clear trees in the park area, move dirt and grade the area, install retaining walls, and install water, sewer, and storm drainage structures. This will lay the groundwork for future development of the ball fields and attached facilities.

Tree clearing needs to begin in early February and be done by March in order to avoid harm to a protected species of migratory bats that roost in the area during warmer months, said City Administrator Jim Schuchmann.

The entire phase of the project is expected to be complete by July.

City leaders have emphasized that throughout the construction work, they will be committed to protecting a line of trees between the park area and the neighboring Spring Hill subdivision to the east. Temporary fencing will be put up to keep construction out of the area, and the ground will be walked by elected officials and city staff to ensure the tree line is not disturbed, city leaders said.

After the groundwork is done, city leaders said the timing of future work is uncertain, as the city plans to pursue outside grant funding to maximize what it can accomplish with the park.

“It’s extremely important that we secure as many other funding options as possible. ... There’s a plethora of grants for stuff like this,” Hakim said. “We’ll break ground this year, then based off when grants are available, that will gauge how aggressive we can be with the rest of the project. ... The hope is to begin phase two as soon as we can, getting those diamonds in and getting them used by the public.”