'One delay after another': More issues slow Beckner Road construction

Jun. 18—Construction on the intersection of Beckner Road and Richards Avenue, a long-standing source of frustration for commuters on the south side of town, has hit another snag.

City officials said last fall the work would be done by June, but it is now expected to take longer, the latest in a series of delays for the project. The city recently took control of the construction of a traffic signal at the intersection and used the emergency procurement process, which does not require putting contracts to bid, to secure agreements with four contractors for the work.

In October the city entered into an impact fee credit agreement with private developer Villa Sendero LLC for the construction of the traffic signal with a budget of $1.6 million.

City officials said previously the intersection cannot safely be reopened without the installation of a traffic signal. At a City Council meeting in early November, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said work would take six to eight more months.

However, Wheeler said at a June 12 City Council meeting that the relationship with the developer broke down after they "refused to proceed" with the work, leading the city to take over the project at the end of May.

"It was the second that he kept submitting to us invalid invoices and insisted on being reimbursed $300,000 for invoices he hadn't actually paid and said that he wouldn't move forward with the project any further, that we jumped into action and took over the project," Wheeler said.

At the meeting, the council unanimously approved $565,000 to buy traffic signal equipment from MWI Inc., the company that had been engaged by Villa Sendero to purchase and install the signal equipment.

Purchasing the equipment directly from the company will cut down on months of delay in having to reorder the materials, according to a memo discussing the project.

The memo stated the project is estimated to take two more months, though at last week's meeting Wheeler said she did not have an exact timeline but said it will be installed "as quickly as possible."

"We won't be any slower than the developer would have been," Wheeler said.

Councilor Jamie Cassutt expressed irritation at the news. She noted the intersection has now been closed for more than two years and has been delayed at least three or four times.

"I hear about this at least once a week," she said. "Up until last week I was under the impression we were still on track for an end-of-June installation. So needless to say, I'm extremely frustrated and my constituents are frustrated."

She asked Wheeler if more could have been done to hold the developer accountable for not completing the work as agreed.

Wheeler said that is in the purview of the Land Use Department and not Public Works. While she was not sure if more could be done to hold the developer accountable, she said the experience has shown going forward using impact fee credit agreements "is probably not a great way to go."

A representative for Villa Sendero LLC could not immediately be located Tuesday.

Cassutt asked if there was any plan to communicate with the public about the new time line; if not, said she would like the city to make one. The temporary traffic control on Beckner Road is mentioned in the June 17 edition of the city's weekly "Orange Barrel Report," which provides updates on city construction work, but it did not include any mention of the change in contractors or when it would be finished.

"This has been one delay after another for years," Cassutt said of the project, which she said is taking place at a major intersection in one of the parts of the city seeing the most development.

"This has been a huge inconvenience for so many members of the community," she said.