Street project delay will benefit pool project
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
What could have been a costly delay in the reconstruction of Kendall Street will likely end up saving Burlington taxpayers money on the construction of a new aquatic center, a city official said Tuesday.
The $1.1 million street project, which includes replacement of water and sewer service lines and reconstruction of the roadway, came to a grinding halt in late April when the project contractor, Reesman’s Excavating, unearthed what appeared to be human bones, City Administrator Carina Walters said.
Officials reported the findings, which led to a state-mandated work stoppage until the discovery could be investigated by the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Walters said.
That investigation revealed records of a prehistoric burial grounds in the area, Walters noted in a memo circulated to City Council members.
It was approximately six weeks after the work was halted before the city received notice from the state Historical Society to resume the project.
“I think at first when we realized it was at a standstill our thinking was, ‘How can we maximize this,’” Walters said. “We took something that wasn’t a good situation and we were able to maximize it.”
What she means is, because of the delay, the city will now be able to use the rubble generated by the demolition of the roadway to begin filling the site of the planned new aquatic center in Devor Park.
In her memo, Walters said the pool project requires about 13,500 cubic yards of imported material to fill the low spots in the park to accommodate the new pool.
By using the fill from Kendall Street rather than importing in from more remote sites will save about $200,000, according to Walters.
In order to accommodate the work, the City Council on Tuesday approved a change order in the contract with Reesman’s. The contractor will be paid an additional $137,386 to prepare the pool site to receive the fill and transport the fill from Kendall Street to the pool site.
The greatest portion of that expense – $60,615 – will be for the transport of 13,500 cubic yards of fill from Kendall Street to Devor Park. An additional $9,788 is for site preparation, $15,801 is for erosion control and $51,000 is for site work.
The funding for the change order will come from the $5.4 million earmarked for pool construction, according to city documents.
Walters said it will take up to two weeks to prepare the pool site – including installing a construction fence to separate the current pool from the fill area – before the project will proceed.
Walters said the city will inform residents living near the pool at 394 Amanda St. that the work will commence soon. She also said the accommodations for trucks delivering the fill will affect current pool operations – namely reducing or eliminating the area where parents and others gather to watch swimming lessons outside the pool fence.
“It will be busy in that area,” Walters said. “But I think it’s good forward progress for the community to see.”
When it comes to the Kendall Street project, Walters said Reesman’s has agreed to assign another truck to the project with the goal to make up for the delay and finish the project by late August to accommodate the start of classes at nearby Cooper Elementary School.
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