Upper Arlington OKs contract for final district in five-year sidewalk maintenance program

Nate Ellis, ThisWeek
·3 min read
damaged sidewalks like these on the 1600 block of Cambridge Boulevard will be repaired this year as part of the city's sidewalk inspection and maintenance program. This year, the city is spending $660,275 to repair sidewalks in District 1, an area south of West Lane Avenue and Northwest Boulevard. Of that, it's expected that $310,000 will be offset by residents, who are required to pay for sidewalk repairs in front of their properties.

Upper Arlington City Council unanimously approved a $660,275 contract May 16 with Columbus-based G&G Concrete Construction LLC for sidewalk repairs in the southern portion of the community.

The city created a sidewalk-inspection program in 2018 and expects to complete the first round of a five-year program with maintenance in District 1, which is designated as south of West Lane Avenue and Northwest Boulevard.

By the conclusion of those repairs, every district of the city will have received sidewalk maintenance.

"This program will be repeated and, as projected in the 10-year capital-improvement plan, is expected to have a construction cost closer to $200,000 versus the $700,000 annually the first round has expended," City Engineer Carla Odebralski said.

According to her May 9 staff report to council, District 1 residents whose sidewalks were deemed in need of repair were notified by the city in March with an aerial view of their property that provided the location of damage and whether the responsibility for repairs was the resident's or city's.

Residents have until July 1 to repair or replace identified sidewalk panels.

"Thereafter, the city will proceed by sending a follow-up notification with the city cost to make the necessary improvements as part of this contract," the staff report stated. "The cost is $181 per 4-inch depth sidewalk panel and $190 per 6-inch depth sidewalk panel.

"The property owner will then be billed upon the project completion, around January 2023."

Odebralski said residents’ portion of the G&G contract is approximately $310,000. After the city recovers those costs, Upper Arlington’s share will be $290,250, she said.

In addition to being lower than an approximately $1.1 million bid from Decker Construction Co. and an $800,675 bid from Newcomer Concrete Services Inc., the staff report said G&C Concrete’s bid was $129,726 less than estimated by the Engineer's Division.

The lower-than-expected costs come after council approved a $2.9 million contract April 11 with Elford Inc. to renovate the Upper Arlington Police Division and City Attorney's Office spaces at the Municipal Services Center. That contract was $800,000 over the city's estimate, and inflation and issues with the supply chain were blamed for the rise in costs.

"From the rest of the bidding climate that we've seen, that was kind of a surprise," Councilwoman Kathy Adams said at the May 16 meeting. "I was wondering if you had information for why that happened and if we can replicate it?"

Odebralski said the city "had a good feeling" that costs might be lower than estimated because G&G completed sidewalk maintenance last year in District 2, an area bounded by Zollinger Road, North Star Road, Northwest Boulevard, West Lane Avenue and Tremont Road.

The cost of the 2021 work, according to last year's contract, was $677,732.

"It really comes down to whether or not a contractor has the workload," Odebralski said. "We hadn't heard that the concrete prices for this type of work were going to be increasing, which is good news because we have more sidewalk projects coming up in the future that need to be bid out for Wakefield Forest and Northstar Road."

Odebralski said an exact date for the sidewalk work hasn't been set, but it's not expected to start until after July 4 and be completed by January.

Under the city's program, residents aren't required to have their sidewalks repaired or replaced by the city's contractor.

However, Odebralski said the costs to residents who allow the city's contractor to perform the work is "almost always less expensive, just because of having a larger quantity of sidewalk panels and sidewalk work."

Councilman Jim Lynch said he believes Upper Arlington’s program is working well, in large part because city staff has done a good job of communicating it to residents.

"If we keep our communications strong, I think we won't have any residents complain," Lynch said. "I've heard very few complaints."

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Upper Arlington OKs contract for final district in five-year sidewalk maintenance program