Dearborn Withholds Final Payment on Parking Deck
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009City Wants General Contractor to Repair Water Leak First
The city of Dearborn is withholding about $37,000 in payment to the builders of one of the city’s $12 million parking decks because repairs to stop water leaks in the lower level of the structure have not been repaired since opening more than two years ago.
The waterproofing membrane surrounding the east parking structure is apparently pulling away from the building and causing water to seep into the basement level of the deck. A recent visit to the east deck revealed no water in the parking area or in the nearby mechanical room located in this area. So it appears the leak isn’t a severe one.
Water is leaking into the lower level of the east parking deck.
Dearborn officials say they are trying to determine who is responsible for the repairs to the east structure before the final check of some $37,000 is written to Turner Construction, the general contractor for the parking decks.
One city official says water leaks were noticed immediately after the parking structure opened for use in 2006. The water appears to be coming up from the ground and then into the deck. Construction of the two decks cost $9.8 million and when combined with bond financing and other costs totaled some $12 million in all.
Despite pre-construction site sample evaluations that indicated the ground was free of water, the leaks indicate that there is indeed water deep underground the parking deck, one city official said.
From where we sit, the water leak repair, no matter how minor it might appear to be, is the responsibility of the construction company, particularly since it was noticed once the deck opened for business. The City of Dearborn earlier paid more than $80,000 for the cleanup of contaminated soil found at the site after construction began (this despite samples taken that said the site wasn’t contaminated). But this latest discovery shouldn’t come out of the city’s checkbook.