By Jordan Puckett
Sun staff
Batavia village council voted to approve the landscaping design put forth by Natorp’s Landscape on the recommendation of village administrator Dennis Nichols.
Nichols said the landscaping portion of the street project was cut out of the overall design plan and listed instead as an alternate. The Ford Development Corporation offered to do the landscaping for $58,000. Nichols requested proposals for other bids.
“I was expecting to get bids ranging anywhere from $30,000 to $200,000,” Nichols said.
Natorp’s bid of $60,000 was the highest of three bids.
Council members asked why Nichols was recommending the high bidder.
“We’re getting substantially more for our money,” Nichols said. He said the other bidding companies were only offering the minimum amount of work. Natorp’s Landscape offered to provide more services for a slightly higher price.
Council member Kathy Turner asked if the landscape design plan includes trees in the middle street islands.
“I believe it gets two trees an island,” Nichols said. There will also be trees in retention planters along the sidewalks.
“I would personally rather just have bushes than trees in there,” council member John Waite said.
Council member Earl Carter agreed with Waite, saying he is “tired of trees.”
Council member Tom Ellis voiced concerns about the future. He asked if the trees would need to be replaced after they get too big.
“The trees…need to be shape trimmed,” Nichols explained. “They need to be pruned so that they will not have branches below eight or ten feet… They will be tall enough to give good clearance to cars and pedestrians, to give visibility. They’ll grow enough to arch over and make a canopy. That will be long term.”
Nichols said the trees will need to be shaped and pruned about every three years.
Council voted 4-2 to accept the Natorp bid. Carter and Turner abstained. This locks in the price of $60,000.
The landscape design project will not begin until next year.
The next village council meeting has been moved to 7 p.m. Sept. 9.