Plans for Old Town Project to Be Redrawn

City engineers and planners are going back to the drawing board this week for the Old Town Calabasas Improvement Project, after the City Council threw out all construction bids received because they were too high.

Although the move will delay the start of construction once again, city officials said the plans need to be reworked to cut costs.

“We’ll be looking at the project and trying to make changes without changing the nature of the project,” City Engineer Robert Newman said, adding that the overall western-themed design will be kept.

The original cost estimate for the project was $1.2 million, he said, but the bids came in at $1.5 million to $1.9 million. City officials said based on the lowest of six bids received, the allocated budget is $400,000 short of what is needed.

The Old Town Calabasas project is designed to lure shoppers to the area by creating a united Old West element to the stretch of Calabasas Road between Valley Circle and Park Granada boulevards.

Plans include adding old-fashioned street lamps, wooden benches and boardwalks, and to widen the road near Valley Circle Boulevard.

There was no one item or element that increased the costs, Newman said, but the project as a whole will be examined to see what can be done to lower them.

“During the bidding process, we had several comments from contractors, so that gives us a basis to start looking for changes,” Newman said.

The city expects to put the job back out to bid in late April, and estimates construction will begin in late summer.