Rochester City Council Approves $18.9 Million Contract for Silver Lake Dam Project
The Rochester City Council has approved an $18.9 million contract with Minnesota-based Rachel Contracting for the Silver Lake dam modification and dredging project. This decision was made on Monday, moving forward a long-planned initiative. The approved bid was the lowest of four received, coming in 9.8% below the engineer's estimate, which had initially projected costs as high as $24 million, significantly exceeding the city's original $15 million budget. The gap in funding will be partially covered by additional state grant dollars. In addition to the dam project, the council also approved an $80,000 design amendment for state and federal permitting, hydraulic modeling, and design changes to the rapids, trails, and shoreline, bringing the total final design costs to $873,000. A related action, timed with the lake drawdown, saw the approval of an $8.2 million contract to replace the Zumbro River siphon beneath Silver Lake, aiming to increase sewer capacity for growth in east Rochester, along with sewer up...
