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Town sinks more money into sinking subdivision
Heather Mays - Thu, Aug, 4, 2011
Nearly five years after a road collapse in the subdivision, The Farm at Willow Creek residents finally are looking at a fix to the subdivision’s leaking stormwater drainage system.
Farragut’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen narrowly approved a contractor’s bid for repairing the leaking underground system — which has caused the collapse in the subdivision as well as a collapse along Evans Road — although the bid was $325,000 more than what the Town had budgeted for.
“I’m just thoroughly disgusted at spending this much money,” Alderman Bob Markli, the lone dissenting vote on approving the contract, said at the Board’s meeting Thursday, July 28.
Blalock & Sons bid $1,125,000 for repairing the system, notably higher than the Town’s $800,000 budget.
About $600,000 of that money will be paid by the Town; the rest will be paid partially by a letter of credit from original subdivision developer Chip Leonard and the rest by new subdivision developer Freeman Webb Inc.
“I think it’s a travesty and a robbery. We need to take a look at the way the Town does business,” Markli, a homebuilder, said.
He estimated the cost of replacing the pipe — which is generally regarded to be crushed because of improper installation — to be $300,000 or $400,000.
“It’s digging a hole and putting pipe in it; it’s done all day, every day by utility contractors. It’s what they do for a living,” Markli said.
But Kevin Alley, spokesman for Blalock & Sons, said the biggest cost of the project was the unknown. Because the system has been leaking for so many years, Alley said he wouldn’t be surprised to find washouts or even sinkholes that have been caused by the rushing water. There are six known sinkholes in the subdivision.
“When we excavate to remove that pipe, you’re right; we do it every day. We don’t do it every day at 25 feet deep,” Alley said.
The fix will involve replacing the 1,100 linear feet of crushed aluminum pipe with larger concrete pipe, replacing the manhole structures, excavating the heavy and compacted soil and backfilling the entire thing in properly — all while keeping the sewer and water lines live for subdivision residents.
“There’s a lot of stuff that is going to take place ... this is not what you’d see happening in a normal subdivision,” Alley said.
“This is a very difficult and very dangerous project,” Town Engineer Darryl Smith agreed, adding the 25-foot depth of the water lines wasn’t standard and would require various safety precautions to reduce the possibility of water line blowouts or ditch collapses.
“The risk is our biggest concern,” Alley said.
Markli thanked Alley for his point-by-point explanation of the cost, but said, “It’s still a lot of money for not a lot of project.”
Vice Mayor Dot LaMarche disagreed.
“This has been going on for a long time in this subdivision and we need to take care of it,” LaMarche said.
She made the motion to accept the bid and Alderman Ron Honken seconded. It was approved by a 3-1 vote, with Alderman Jeff Elliott absent.
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