Newport City Council Awards MLK Playground Contract

NEWPORT, RI — J.G. Coffey Company of Bristol has won the contract to resurface the basketball and the multi-purpose courts at the Dr. Martin Luther King Park, the Newport City Council decided on Wednesday. The price is not to go over $10,706.72.

The public services department solicited bid for the job and ultimately recommended Coffey. According to the staff memo, the asphalt basketball courts are 15 years old, and the work is intended to extend their useful life and improve them. The money is coming from a Community Development Block Grant and is part of a bigger improvement project for the Dr. Martin Luther King Park on Wheatland Boulevard.

The vote was 6-0. Councilor Lynne Ceglie was absent.

In other business, the councilors tabled a renewable energy contract, a joint project with Middletown; approved on second reading two ordinance changes connected to waterfront maritime museums; and gave Matrix Development, Inc., of Colorado Springs, Colo., the contract for $15,600 to create a zoning overlay (for an innovation district and innovation center in the area around the Pell Bridge ramp right of way in the North End).

After adjourning as the city council, the members reconvened as the Board of License Commissioners and unanimously approved former Mayor Richard Sardella's request to expand his restaurant, which has a Class BV liquor license, into the adjoining property at 32-34 Memorial Boulevard. (The action, however, is subject to Historic District Commission approval.)

The board also unanimously approved all liquor and victualing license renewals on the docket.

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