Bradenton's portion of the $53M Ware's Creek project '95 percent' done after long delay

BRADENTON -- Most of the $53 million Ware's Creek federal flood control project concluded this week within city limits, but Bradenton taxpayers will pay an additional $50,000 for mistakes made by a contractor hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the project.

The city awarded a contract to Gator Dredging of Clearwater, which began Thursday to redredge areas of the creek downstream from where contractor Air Ideal Inc. of Winter Park, which specializes in commercial air conditioning, worked.

Air Ideal was responsible for the smallest section of the dredging and widening project between 17th and 21st avenues. Problems with its work surfaced and Air Ideal was officially terminated in October 2014 after walking off the site six months earlier.

After months of trying to obtain the company's insurance bond, the Corps awarded Miami-based Pac Comm Inc., a $6.3 million contract in July to resume and repair work at the problem site. Pac Comm specializes in marine construction and has moved off the former Air Ideal site to phase III of the project near the Desoto Square mall in Manatee County's portion of the project.

Because of Air Ideal's incomplete work before abandonment of the site, silt began to flow downstream for months to areas of the creek near Ballard Park Elementary School. Those portions of the creek began to fill back up and work to resolve it could not proceed until the silt-flow problem had been resolved.

According to Claude Tankersley, public works director, the city sent a written request to the Corps to pay for the work created by Air Ideal, but received no response.

Corps spokeswoman Amanda Parker confirmed Friday via email most of the work is complete.

"The section is 95 percent complete," said Parker. "Guardrails, sodding and a bridge connection still remain."

Parker has not responded to queries if the project is running under or over budget.

Ward 1 City Councilman Patrick Roff said the city will continue to pish for reimbursement, but it was more important to repair what he calls the "Air Ideal disaster."

"There was a whole lot of sediment that washed downstream," Roff said. "The water that flows under the Ninth Avenue bridge moves fairly quickly and it hits the bank, shoots across the creek into another bank and then hits that wide patch. That's where the silt has been dumping."

Roff said an island of silt had begun to form and the creek would quickly revert back to its trouble-prone state without action.

"The main thing is to get that silt out of there now," said Roff. "It will be my preference to pursue reimbursement from the Corps, but they will probably be in federal court with Air Ideal for more than a year and nothing is going to happen until that is resolved. The Corps is operating under Air Ideal's bond, but I doubt they are going to walk away from millions of dollars without a fight."

Air Ideal has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

The original contract calls for the city to pay for ongoing maintenance of the creek within city limits and for the county to pay to maintain its portion. Roff said there may be an argument the current work would be considered ongoing maintenance.

"But it's clearly a construction accident and I believe we should pursue the reimbursement," he said.

There is still orange fencing at the site as out-of-water work continues, but the creek work is complete. All heavy equipment has been relocated to the project area near the mall and Cortez Road. The Corps has to officially sign off on the project before all construction fencing will be removed.

Roff said Pac Comm "did a bang-up job and I congratulate them for getting us through the biggest flood control project in Manatee County history."

Mark Young, Herald urban affairs reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7041 or follow him on Twitter@urbanmark2014.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Bradenton's portion of the $53M Ware's Creek project '95 percent' done after long delay ."