Thursday, July 06, 2000
Renovation project hits snag
Occupancy of city offices in Erlanger delayed until Aug. 1
By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ERLANGER — Erlanger's $4 million project to renovate and expand its city offices has met with another hitch and the offices probably won't be ready for occupation until Aug. 1, officials said Thursday.
If the remodeling isn't finished by then, Erlanger could seek “liquidated damages” from the project contractor, Erlanger Administrator Bill Scheyer said. The damages would be actual costs incurred by the city from its inability to use the building, which is on Commonwealth Avenue, just east of the Interstate 75's Donaldson Road exit.
The renovation is one of the city's largest undertakings, based on budget size. Erlanger officials have said they needed expanded facilities to fit more people into city council chambers and to better accommodate the police department. Officers were literally sharing desks in cramped offices in the basement and had nowhere to conduct confidential interviews.
When they broke ground in January, 1999, Erlanger officials planned to occupy their new offices by March, 2000. Since then, that date has been pushed back at least three times.
The first delays were prompted by changes Erlanger officials approved for the project, Mr. Scheyer said.
Then, more recently, the wrong size door frames were shipped for interior doors. And about a week ago, engineers discovered a number of patches of unstable soil where parking was planned, he said.
Unstable soil meant that vehicles and the parking lot would sink in weak areas. Now the soil must be shored up and packed in for stability.
“When they went to make the final test of compaction to make sure (the ground) was stable and ready to be paved, a num ber of sections didn't pass the test,” Mr. Scheyer said. “Back in the 1950s and '60s when this place was built, apparently they just put a whole bunch of debris under the ground. Now that we want to go in, and set it up to support traffic and cars, it just doesn't hold up.”
Besides housing Erlanger's administrative staff, the 7,000 to 8,000 square feet of improvements by the Covington-based Mardis and Meehan Construction Inc. includes a community room that can be partitioned into two rooms.
In December, Erlanger Police moved into new headquarters at 505 Commonwealth Ave. The new police station is about five times larger than the old one, and offers more privacy, the police chief has said.
When Erlanger's remodeled administrative offices open, the building that city staff has temporarily occupied at 515 Watson St. will be torn down, freeing room for about 20 extra parking spaces, said Dave Hahn, Erlanger codes administrator.
At least the postponements haven't busted the budget, city officials point out.
“Even though it's frustrating and inconvenient, the bottom line is, we don't want to go over budget,” Mr. Scheyer said. “Even with the delays we've had, we're still within our budget.”
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