The area around Westbrook’s Town Green is about to get more—and more efficient—parking. Of the four bids the town received for the town center parking lot, the low bidder at $331,141, was Xenelis Construction of Middlefield.

A relieved Town Planner Meg Parulis said that puts the project within the planned town budget for the work.

That also means that all of the planned and the hoped-for project elements will be done. The details include installation of decorative lighting, use of granite instead of asphalt curbs in the parking lot, plantings included in the landscaping plan prepared by Kathy Connolly, and removal of the bump-out peninsulas in the Town Green along Westbrook Place.

Although the town received a $500,000 grant for the parking lot development, some of the amount awarded has been already spent or committed for the project. Design costs to acquire a sliver of land from the adjacent bank owner to expand and square off the site, contingency, and funding for construction oversight all have eaten into the grant award. Fortunately for the town, the construction bid submitted by Xenelis is low enough that all of the project costs can be covered by the Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant the town received.

With the asphalt plant ready to close soon for winter, work to complete the parking lot will not be done before winter. Parulis anticipates that Xenelis Construction will likely be able to install the culvert and to grade the site this fall, before bad weather hits. Then, as soon as spring weather returns early in 2017, the rest of the project, including the landscaping plantings, can be done.

Construction oversight of the project will be provided by Woodward & Curran, the town’s engineering firm. On a daily basis, the town’s Public Works Department will also monitor the contractor’s work.

When completed, the new town center parking lot will yield about 27 public parking spaces. Access to the new lot will be off of Knothe Road.

The successful bidder, Xenelis Construction, has demonstrated experience with this type of project as well as a local connection. The firm completed the site work for the Middlesex Hospital Emergency Center on Flat Rock Place.