UPDATE: As it was pointed out to me over the past couple of days, there are some interesting rumors coming out;
• The savings on the mobilization may be just a late fee that was padded into the bid that they no longer have to be concerned about since the project date is being extended. It reminds me of the Event Center siding settlement where the city was given a million dollars of it’s own contingency fund.
• Would have other contractors bid on this project if they would have known about the time extension and could it be broken up into separate bids?
• This may be about utilities. The rumor is Cherapa II cannot open to tenants until more water, sewer and other utilities are hooked up.
Remember when we had to get Phillips to the Falls done right away because developers were ready to start on the adjacent property. The city sat on the land for 11 years for these developers, tax free.
The reason this project is becoming more complicated is because the city is trying to cover up what is really going on.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. – Mark Twain
While most might think saving over a $1 million on the project is a good thing, some may wonder why this is being told to us now (Item #6, Consent Agenda);
• Extend Completion Date – By moving the interim completion date from November 18, 2023, to August 2, 2024, and final completion date to September 6, 2024, SFC Civil is willing to reduce the mobilization on the project by $850,000.
• Cherapa II Contribution – The Cherapa II developer has offered to contribute $250,000 towards constructing right?of?way elements (sidewalk, approach and streetscape) between 6th Street and Cherapa buildings, which reduces City cost.
• Scope Reductions and Substitutions – While still in review, there is approximately $350,000 in additional savings to be realized through scope reductions or substitutions.
Most, if not all of these discounts could have been offered to begin with. There have been many engineers in the city who have expressed with me and other reporters that the mobilization and staging fees were questionable to begin with so I doubt the discount is hurting the general contractors bottom line, but we may never know.
Scope reductions are just a couple of fancy words saying there will be less expensive decorative elements.
While I am glad to see Cherapa will be kicking in some dough, they really will be benefitting the most from this project with extensive off street parking and a proposed quiet zone;
• Four prepayment invoice agreements with Wilson & Company, for approximately $40,000 each, represent the costs for required utility inspection and roadway worker?in?charge services associated with the boring under the BNSF railroad and each individual utility in the shared casing pipe.
• Another prepayment invoice agreement will be coming later, as well as a Construction & Maintenance agreement with BNSF. This agreement will outline the cost and conditions of the signal and rail crossing construction done by BNSF as a part of the project. Details are still being finalized, but it represents an important step in progress towards the future whistle reduction zone downtown.
I think these costs should be shared with BNSF (maybe they are?) when it comes to utilities but as for the quiet zone, not one single penny of city tax dollars should be used. Remember, the Railroads sit on Federal Easement land owned by Federal taxpayers. If any government money is used for the quiet zone it should come from Federal grants, the State DOT and the railroads. And if we are already spending money to evaluate the quiet zones we might as well review it for all DTSF crossings including the two between 12th and Avera on Cliff Avenue. There is a Federal DOT grant program for quiet zones.
I also think the developers of super expensive condos next to the tracks should pony up since this would most likely benefit the residents in this area.
The project just began a few weeks ago and the change orders are already rearing their head. With all the money we are spending on this project, it makes you wonder if the bridge will be gold plated?