September 21, 2011
09/22/11 There is still hope that the construction on Oak Drive between the two shopping areas could be finished before the Thanksgiving holiday season.
Rick Gaul, city engineer, said, “We are trying to get out of there this year.” “We hope to have electricity in by the middle of the month.”
Although contractually, the project that widens the road to four lanes, is supposed to be completed by mid-November, setbacks including a strike by some union workers and weather delays have added to the construction time.
Gaul asked the Commission members for approval of three change orders connected with the project. The first in the amount of $3,661.50 for temporary pavement was added to the project along with $2,700 for moving two poles on the west side of the road and for right-of-way signage. A third change order did not involve any monetary increase or decrease as it only involved a seeding mixture change.
All of the requests were approved unanimously.
City Utilities Superintendent Donnie Davidson apprised the Redevelopment members on a cost proposal from Commonwealth Engineers concerning the expansion of thePine Roadwater treatment plant. Davidson has been presenting the plan involving thePine Roadplant to Redevelopment and other city boards for several weeks. Davidson said the Ledyard water treatment plant needs repairs. The plans for thePine Roadplant are to help ensure that the city’s water supply is protected during any possible interruptions at the Ledyard facility.
Davidson said the proposal from Commonwealth includes $136,000 for design, $12,000 for the bidding process, and $5,000 for permits. Originally the figures were presented as $105,000 for design work, $12,000 for the bidding process, and betweeen $3,500-$5,000 for permits.
Davidson said, “We have looked at some existing problems.” Other concerns were presented to the Commission, but will be bid out in an alternative fashion. Among those listed were a shed for lawn motor storage and a loop system for water distribution. Davidson said, “We can decide if they were good and the additional items are worth proceeding on.”
The entire project was budgeted at $1.5 million.
The board approved the Commonwealth proposal by unanimous vote.
The South Gateway Project was also up for discussion during the September 20 Redevelopment meeting. John Zant, site-greenways development engineer from BF&S (Butler, Fairman, and Seufert) said, “The dominoes are starting to fall in the way we like them”
Zant said they had budgeted some $208,000 for the purchase of the former Cook/Dimmitt Building and adjacent property, but were able to purchase both for $147,800.
Plans are to tear down the building that is in ill repair and turn the site into public park space.
Zant said the total projected budget for the project is $833,000.
Soil samples taken from where gasoline tanks were removed many years ago, show some diesel fuel still left on the site. Zant said the remediation could cost $100,000. However, he did propose an alternate way to attend to the problem. He said for a cost of $4,000 they could pursue trying to get a letter from IDEM stating that they would not pursue remediation (mandates).
The motion to that effect was passed unanimously with the contingency that the contracts involved meet with the approval of the City Attorney Nelson Chipman.
Zant indicated that they could hold a bid date on the project as early as February or March of next year.
He said it could take 6-8 months for the work to be completed with a finish date by October or November of 2012.
Carol Anders Correspondent