Posted on April 3, 2024
MITCHELL — The Mitchell City Council will consider awarding a contractor’s bid on Monday for the construction of a jetty and first phases of a marina along Lake Mitchell.
A total of four bids were submitted to the city. City officials are recommending the council award Sioux Falls-based Soukup Construction’s $2.6 million bid.
The council will consider awarding the bid during the 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall.
The city’s plan to build a jetty and public boat dock near the west end boat ramp advanced in 2022 after securing a $1 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) in 2022. The grant will fund nearly half of the project costs.
The concept of constructing a jetty — which is a long, narrow strip of earthwork surrounded by riprap or stone to block wind for fishing and easing boat docking — developed through a North Dakota State University-led Lake Mitchell recreation study that recommended the city build a marina, public boat dock and jetty.
According to the city’s bid documents, the project will entail constructing the jetty and marina equipment.
With the looming June 4 election that will decide the fate of the proposed Lake Mitchell dredging project, the lake’s water level could be drawn down significantly if voters approve the dredging loan. If voters reject the loan, the lake would be full when crews build the jetty.
The city required each bid to include the jetty with a full lake and a drawdown lake.
There were very little cost differences in building a jetty with a full lake vs. a lake with water drawn down, according to the bid sheet. Soukup Construction’s bid to build a jetty with a full lake was $1.15 million, about $5,000 less than its bid for building a jetty with drawdown lake.
The jetty construction is one phase of the project. The marina equipment and sidewalk installation are additional phases of the $2.6 million project.
Prior to being awarded the $1 million EDA grant, the council approved a $35,000 design for a future public boat dock on the west side of the lake. The design entailed a 62-slip boat dock surrounded by the roughly 530-foot L-shaped jetty.
City leaders have pointed to a public boat dock as a revenue source that could help fund future lake restoration work.
