LCDC to fund NIC survey

COEUR d'ALENE - Now comes the topography study.

Once that's finished, the next step will be to draft the final design plan for the education corridor project and put it out to bid.

That means the timeline for groundbreaking next year is still on par.

First, JUB Engineers needs to survey 34 acres of surface near North Idaho College - costing up to $65,000 - and present its results to Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal agency and a primary funder for the project.

The LCDC board agreed Tuesday during a special meeting to fund the survey.

The deal includes around $21,000 for the topography information to be packaged into a signed and transferable document.

JUB told the board that just the survey would cost around $44,800, but to package the findings into a transferable document - one that any engineering firm could use - could push the total up to $65,000.

Without the information presented as a deliverable document, other engineering firms likely wouldn't use the calculations, should JUB not win the bid to do the project.

But the board is in negotiations with JUB for the final design project, and the money would come from the contract total anyway, not in addition to it, said Tony Berns, LCDC director.

JUB won the original conceptual design contract from the city of Coeur d'Alene, LCDC and other stakeholders. Extended works relating to that contract can be extended without it returning to bid. The final design, once completed, will have to go out to bid.