PORT ANGELES — City of Port Angeles engineers suspect that cracking that in a foundation wall at The Gateway — which has held up completion of the downtown project — is because of a design flaw, a city official says.
Nathan West, city economic development director and building official, said the city is waiting on the engineer of record, Bright Engineering, Inc. of Seattle, to respond to its questions in order to determine whether or not a design flaw is to blame.
“We want some answers regarding the design and how they relate to how those cracks may have formed,” he said.
The combined transit center, parking garage, pavilion and police substation — located at Front and Lincoln streets and Railroad Avenue — is a joint project with the city and Clallam Transit. Its completion has been on hold since the cracking was discovered in the east foundation wall of the pavilion in September.
West said the city’s focus is on the design and not construction practices. He couldn’t say when Bright will have its response to the city’s questions completed.
In the meantime, using steel reinforcement to stabilize the foundation wall, located on the eastern side of the parking area beneath the pavilion, is being considered as a solution.
Steve Sperr, city engineer, said it is not known whether that would be a sufficient solution if a design flaw was found to be the cause of the cracking, which radiated underneath a concrete beam.
“That’s part of what we are hoping to find out,” he said.
All parties involved are discussing the proper fix.
Ingo Goller, Exeltech construction manager, expects a consensus to be reached in January, with the project, budgeted at $14.7 million, to be completed shortly after.
Though it hasn’t been determined whether the cracking represents a structural problem, Goller said that placing reinforcing steel into the foundation wall around where the cracking occurred is being considered at least as a precautionary measure.
Doing so would cost roughly $2,000, he said.
“The whole system is still moving through its slow process of resolution,” Goller said.
“It’s a significant enough problem that a structural repair is appropriate.”
The parties involved in the discussion include the city and Clallam Transit, which jointly created The Gateway; Krei Architecture, which designed the project; Primo Construction, which is building it; Exeltech, which is managing it; and sub-contractors and consultants.
“You could make a football team with them,” Terry Weed, Clallam Transit general manager, joked.
The project, which began in June 2007, was expected to be completed last month. Its initial completion date was early September.
Completion will likely involve an extension of Primo’s $8 million contract.
“I think there is an understating that the contract would have to be adjusted for construction,” Sperr said.
The details of a contract extension, such as its duration and cost, are not known at this time, he said, because the cause of the cracking and the proper solution haven’t been resolved.
As of last month, city Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski said the project remains within its $14.7 million budget, though it has exceeded its initial estimate of $13.8 million.
The city and Clallam Transit received $8.1 million in state and federal grant funding for The Gateway.
The project is essentially complete except for a second pour of concrete on the plaza, which is located in the pavilion.
That work has been delayed while engineers determine if the structure, which includes parking spaces underneath, is sound.
The second pour will provide a slope for water drainage and a pattern for the plaza floor.
Goller said the cracking likely resulted from the “post tensioning” process that is used in the horizontal concrete beams that support the pavilion.
Steel wires within the concrete are pulled taut, which gives the structure more support.
Goller said one option under consideration is to place a temporary metal frame around the concrete beam where the cracking occurred, conduct the second pour of concrete and monitor the structure to see if the extra load has any effect. Doing so could also cost roughly $2,000 he said.
“We want to make sure the beam doesn’t settle or move around,” Goller said.
“Everyone is very concerned. We are being super cautious to make sure that whatever is done is done to the degree necessary to resolve a problem.”
Parking garage
Goller said the transit lane and parking garage are still expected to be open before the plaza floor is completed. No dates have been determined.
Clallam Transit signed a parking management agreement for the 169 parking spaces at The Gateway with Heckman Motors Inc. in September 2006.
Weed said a new agreement, which is being negotiated, will have to be signed with Heckman Motors before the parking spaces can be used because the initial agreement only lasted until construction began in June 2007.
The company managed the parking from September 2006 until that point.
The previous agreement says Heckman will pay Clallam Transit $1,540 a month.
Weed said that money has to go back into The Gateway for such expenses as operations and maintenance.
The contract was awarded to Heckman Motors without soliciting other offers — which has been an issue of contention with the Port Angeles Downtown Association because it used to manage the city-owned parking spaces at the site of The Gateway prior to construction.
Terry Roth, downtown association president, said the organization was an initial partner in the project and expected to have a role in management of the parking facilities.
James and Lea Heckman sold their property at The Gateway for $420,000 to Clallam Transit for the project in 2006 as part of a condemnation lawsuit.
Weed said Clallam Transit didn’t solicit other offers because the management agreement with Heckman Motors allowed it to get a reduction in the sales price of that property.
The amount Clallam Transit could spend on property acquisition was regulated by the Federal Transit Administration, since it used FTA grant money for that purpose, he said, and without a reduction in sales price, Clallam Transit would have spent more than the allotment.
Also at issue was a business agreement between Heckman and Richard and Francis Niichel.
The Niichels, at the time, owned the property adjacent to The Gateway, where Budget Rent A Car, owned by Heckman Motors, is located.
Former City Manager Mark Madsen said in August that the Niichels had first right of refusal of Heckman’s property and weren’t interested in giving that up.
The city resolved that issue by purchasing the 36,229 square-foot property from the Niichels — which includes 105, 107 and 111 E. Front St., and 110 E. Railroad Ave. — for $1.2 million in August 2006.
The city declared the property surplus in September and is attempting to sell it for redevelopment.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
