Oak Harbor staff’s cost estimates for the first phase of development for a long-planned park exceeded the budget by around $3 million, interim Public Works Director Mick Monken told the city council Wednesday.

The 75-acre regional park planned for a city-owned property known as the Harbor Heights Sports Complex will eventually include a perimeter trail, a play area and a variety of sports fields. The first phase of park development, which consists of two soccer fields and 50 parking stalls, was originally budgeted at $1.65 million.

Now that staff expect the actual cost to come in between $4.7 and $5.1 million, Monken encouraged the council to carefully consider how to proceed with the first phase — and to develop a long-term strategy for funding development of the rest of the park.

Staff made their first phase cost estimate based on the design consultants’ 60% design plan. The consultants won’t give an official cost estimate until the plan is 90% completed, as per their contract with the city, but staff decided to make an unofficial estimate to better understand what the first phase might cost the city.

Monken told the council the staff’s estimate is likely on the high side, and it’s still possible that reality will more closely reflect the original budgeted amount. He said the council could either proceed as planned and wait for an official cost estimate from consultants at the 90% design plan, which could increase design costs if the council chose to change the design in the future, or the council could request a cost estimate from consultants now, at the 60% mark, and delay construction, which is scheduled to begin this summer.

“Personally, I have zero issue with a time delay,” Councilmember Bryan Stucky said. “What I don’t want is for us to do another major project that goes over budget.”

Stucky added that he favored requesting an official cost estimate from the consultants now. Councilmember Jim Woessner also favored this option, while councilmembers Dan Evans, Shane Hoffmire and Eric Marshall and Mayor Pro Tem Beth Munns supported staying the course and waiting for the 90% cost estimate, which was the course of action city staff recommended.

As a result, construction is still on schedule to begin this year.

With the first phase on track to significantly exceed cost expectations, Monken prompted the council to begin considering a long-term funding strategy, which might include engaging community partners, such as the North Whidbey Pool, Park and Recreation District.

“It helps you expand your funding areas, if you have partners on it,” Monken said. “It gives you more grant opportunities.”

During a board meeting of the park district commissioners Tuesday evening, district Director Jay Cochran said Oak Harbor staff had already floated the idea of forming some kind of partnership to her.

Cochran said community partnerships have been beneficial to the park district’s efforts to expand recreation programming during her tenure, and she is interested in finding areas where the city and the district might collaborate.

“We kind of want to lay out what the city’s needs are, what our needs are,” she said. “Do any of those needs line up, and if they do, how can we move forward?”

In Tuesday’s meeting, three of the five park commissioners volunteered to participate in a committee to explore a partnership with the city. Board chair Juli Brooks-Leete selected board members John Chargualaf and Christopher Wiegenstein to participate on that committee. Appointment to the committee did not require formal action.

The partnership would not necessarily be limited to the Harbor Heights project, but park district commissioners still agreed upon the need to exercise caution while exploring partnership options to ensure the agreement would benefit all parties involved.

“​​In all fairness, the city wants to meet now because they have a lot on their plate financially, and letting things go seems to be, to me, advantageous for them,” Brooks-Leete said. “So we’ll certainly proceed with caution, because running levies for sports complexes and things, and taking over that — I mean, if it were easy, they’d hold on to it.”