City councillors agreed this week to authorize a $60,000 change order to a contractor building a city fence on Sault Transit property, after learning the brand-new 12-foot fence panels were in danger of being toppled by wind gusts.
The fence runs along the property line with Algoma Steel, adjacent to the railway between Huron Street and George Street South.
GreenTerra Landscaping was lowest among six bidders and won an $82,999 contract for the work in August.
"With construction well underway, GreenTerra has encountered concerns relating to stability and viscosity of the fence structure," said Karen Marlow, the city's manager of purchasing, in a report prepared for Monday's city council meeting.
"Contributing factors identified include sub-par ground makeup along the property, and exposure to wind gusts against the posts and fence panels (12 feet), causing low ability to provide sufficient structural support for the fence.
"These ground conditions would not be known to bidders, and additional structural supports were not indicated in any bid submissions.
"To mitigate these concerns and improve structural support, GreenTerra has proposed material changes be applied in the construction implementing the use of pre-fabricated mild steel bracing and structural tube.
"This option comes with warranty based on its intended design which is to prevent the fence from falling or being pushed due to wind."
"Deferral of approval to move forward ultimately puts contractor in position of work stoppage, causing additional expenses of workers and equipment, and further delays the construction project," Marlow said.
Council agreed to pay the landscaper an additional $60,000, bringing the total bill to $142,999.
Based on current conditions, the bolstered fencing is expected to last between 15 and 20 years.
Here are more snack-sized news bites from yesterday's city council meeting:
- Our councillors were uncharacteristically obmutescent, keeping silent as shadows as they voted unanimously to allow Sault Ste. Marie Housing Corp. employees to use a municipal parking lot at 525 Queen St. East, four years after Housing Corp. started quietly taking over the lot without formal permission
- Plans to extend Sackville Road to Third Line East took an important step forward as council agreed to upgrade Sackville from a 'urban local' road to an 'urban collector.' The owner of a large property just southwest of the proposed Sackville–Third Line intersection talked to city officials several years ago about residential development there and is following news about the road extension
- WSP Canada Inc. of Thornhill, Ont. got a $159,421 contract to conduct a review of Sault Transit operations. Along with possible route reconfigurations, the review will explore whether to retain the existing downtown bus terminal on Dennis Street or relocate to the Huron Street bus bay. The last transit review was done in 2018. It took two years. WSP isn't expected to take that long. Its work should be done by August of next year
- The city will provide an $11,234 grant to start a community-mobilized urban forest that will "rewild" part of the grounds at White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School with native plants and trees. The city money will also be used to start an outdoor laboratory at Eastview Public School, where work began earlier this year on the Sault's first 'little forest'
- Algoma University's biology department will get $2,476 to design, produce and deploy interpretive signs with information about four invasive species that grow in the forest near the university campus