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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRPS-06-010 - Demolition Contract and Related Issues - 31 Young Street (Forsyth Building)Report To: Mayor C. Zehr and Members of Council Date of Meeting: January 16, 2006 Submitted By: G. Sosnoski, General Manager of Corporate Services & City Clerk Prepared By: L. Proulx, Director of Facilities Management l L. Gordon, Director of Purchasing Ward(s) Involved: Ward 1 Date of Report: January 12, 2006 Report No.: CRPS-06-010 Subject: DEMOLITION CONTRACT AND RELATED ISSUES - 31 YOUNG STREET (FORSYTH BUILDING) RECOMMENDATION: None at this time -for information only. BACKGROUND: On January 9, 2006 the City was served with the attached Orders to Prohibit Occupancy and to Remedy an Unsafe Condition. These were issued by J. Witmer, Chief Building Official, and in accordance with the Building Code Act. This was as a result of an engineering report entitled `Review of the Forsyth Factory Building - 31 Young Street, Kitchener, Ontario' prepared by Sze Straka Engineers (Structural Division of MTE Consultants Inc.) and dated January, 2006. The report concluded that deterioration of the structure had increased exponentially to the point where the building may collapse in an unpredictable time period, possibly very soon. The unsafe conditions with respect to the structural integrity of the building were seen as posing a threat to public safety, and the barricades currently surrounding the structure were judged by the consulting engineer to be insufficient to ensure 100% public safety. Following a review of the report, J. Witmer and Dr. Yulun Sze, Sze Straka Engineers, toured the building to validate the engineering concerns, following which the above Orders were issued. The City subsequently took steps to initiate demolition of Phases 1, 2 and 4 of the Forsyth Building complex, details of which are outlined below. On November 28, 2005, Council directed Facilities Management staff to reactivate the fire alarm system and to implement measures to improve drainage and other protective measures with respect to water penetration. In the course of undertaking this work, Mr. L. Proulx, Director of Facilities Management, noticed that some bricks had recently fallen off of the Young Street building fagade immediately over a public sidewalk. Just priorto Christmas, arrangements were made for a structural engineer and a mason to examine the building in greater detail. As a result of their preliminary observations, the engineer directed staff to block the sidewalk and enclose the entire site in order to ensure public safety. The Sze Straka engineering report was prepared between Christmas and the New Year and received by staff the morning of January 9, 2006. Subsequent to the staff decision to demolish Phases 1, 2 and 4 of the Forsyth complex, a special meeting of Heritage Kitchener was held on January 10, 2006, at which time the Committee put forward a recommendation with respect to preservation of Phase 5 of the Forsyth complex (Art Deco addition) and the house wedged between Phases 4 and 5. The recommendation also suggested that Council should salvage as much of the building fabric as possible. This recommendation was directed to the January 16, 2006 Council meeting. REPORT: Tenders l Salvage Issues: Tenders were requested of five potential bidders and a site meeting was held with these firms on Wednesday, January 11. The bids were requested as two separate components, the first (Bid Item A) relating to demolition of the building alone, with the demolition contractor retaining all salvage rights. The second component (Bid Item B) related to the additional cost which the City would incur should it wish to retain the building materials as recommended by Heritage Kitchener. This amount does not include any storage and future transportation costs or any labour costs that may be required to render the materials in a condition suitable for future re- use. The following are the tenders received for Items A) and B) as outlined above: Bidder Bid Item A Bid Item B Bel-Air Excavating & Grading Ltd $ 206,510. $ 313,510. Kieswetter Demolition 1992 Inc. $ 255,355.50 $ 647,644.25 HAZCO Environmental Services $ 283,710.50 $1,605,000. Belco Contracting Brantford Inc. $ 294,206.74 $ 374,076.28 Sittler Environmental Inc. $ 309,999.80 $1,398,516.75 The tenders submitted were reviewed by staff at Noon on Thursday, January 12 and the demolition portion of the tender (Item A) was awarded to Bel-Air Excavating & Grading Ltd. (Cambridge) at their tendered price of $206,510., including GST. Bel-Air also submitted the lowest bid for Item b) which would provide for the salvage of all materials including brick, wood floors, columns and specifically the painted signage bands on the building, with these materials to be skidded and transported to the Utilities Operations Centre (Elmsdale), all at a cost of $313,510. including demolition. Staff were compelled to act on the demolition portion of the tender immediately in order to ensure that the work is undertaken as quickly as possible. The General Manager of Corporate Services & City Clerk invoked the emergency provisions of Chapter 170 (Purchasing and Materials Management) of the Municipal Code to authorize the purchase order relative to the demolition tender. Under that provision a Department Head can authorize without Council approval if the situation is such that failure to act would endanger `life, limb or property'. This report is intended to fulfill the reporting requirement under Section 170.7.1 (b) of Chapter 170. Council is free to deal with the Bid Item B portion of the tender on January 16, 2005 as it sees fit, this to allow for consideration of the recommendation of Heritage Kitchener that "throughout the demolition process all measures be taken to salvage all materials of heritage significance and interest including but not limited to all brick, wood floors, beams, columns and specifically the painted sign bands reading `John Forsyth Co. Ltd.' and `Fine Shirts -Underwear - Pajamas'....". Should Council concur with the Committee's recommendation, consideration should be given to what specific materials are to be retained, the long-term storage of these materials and any labour costs involved in rendering them suitable for adaptive re-use. Alternatively, Council may wish to consider retaining a limited amount of the building materials as representative artifacts. It is anticipated this could be done at a much reduced cost. At this point the City has no specific inventory of items to be salvaged for future use, nor any plans as to how or where this material would be utilized. Prior to initiating demolition, and in recognition of the fact there is no guarantee that the house and the Art Deco addition will survive the demolition of the Forsyth Building proper, Leon Bensason was given an opportunity to remove selected features from the interior of either the Forsyth Building, the house or the Art Deco addition under the supervision of an engineer, and provided that this can be done safely and without undue risk to staff. Mr. Bensason entered the building on the morning of January 13 to remove any interior building features which he thought were of architectural l heritage value. It was also confirmed the City has in its possession two different sets of measured drawings of the Forsyth Building complex, and that Mr. Bensason will take additional exterior photographs to augment the existing collection. Mr. Bensason was able to remove a number of artifacts of anon-structural nature with the Forsyth name or which reflected an architectural style of design which could be used to interpret the architectural style of the building. Demolition and Related Issues The contractor entered the site to prepare it for demolition on January 13, and by that date the water, gas and hydro service to the building was shut off. The contractor plans to begin demolition early on January 14, beginning on the Young Street fagade with the portion closest to Duke Street, provided all pre-demolition environmental concerns have been addressed.. They plan to work down along the entire Young Street fagade and then back into the site once the entire Young Street fagade has been demolished. Given the direction to demolish for reasons of public safety, the City was anxious to proceed as soon as possible and the Saturday date is the earliest this could occur given the site preparation and environmental issues. In addition, the Saturday demolition start allows the work on the Young Street fagade directly opposite the entrance to the City Hall Parking Garage to take place at a time when the Garage is not heavily utilized and traffic in the Downtown is at lower levels that during the week. It is not expected that it will be necessary to close the City Hall Parking Garage during the demolition, and the contractor expects to keep one lane on Young Street open to allow access and egress to the parking garage from Duke Street. However, it may be necessary to temporarily close the Garage for short periods of time at various stages in the demolition process. Through traffic will be blocked from the King Street entrance to Young Street. The contractor estimates it will take between 5-6 weeks to demolish the entire structure, and it is estimated that it will take approximately 1 week to remove the entire Young Street fagade, weather permitting. Consulting engineers will oversee the demolition and it is estimated that within 3 weeks staff will be in a position to begin evaluating whether the Art Deco portion and the house can be retained. At this point the contractor can give no clear indication as to whether it is possible to retain the two buildings in whole or in part. A report will be prepared for Council once staff have a clearer picture. The Chief Building Official will also have to assess whether further demolition beyond building Phases 1, 2 & 4 is required for reasons of public safety, and if necessary will issue subsequent orders. If demolition proceeds according to plan, demolition of Phase 2 will result in the south elevation of the Art Deco addition being almost entirely removed. If it is determined that the building can be preserved, a temporary 2-3 storey wall will have to be constructed to secure the building. Again the Chief Building Official and consulting engineer will make a determination in this regard. It is not clear at this time as to whether additional remedial work would be required to the house, as it is staffs' understanding that this does not share a common wall with the Phase 4 portion of the Forsyth complex. Preparation of grading plans is currently underway with respect to backfilling of the cavity which will be left as a result of demolition and removal. Engineering is working with Facilities Management in preparing cost estimates in this regard and a determination will have to be made as to the use of the site pending finalization of plans for the Centre Block. Given the current use, staff are proceeding on the assumption that this would be converted into parking for the near term. Traffic and Parking staff are working with the demolition contractor to determine the extent to which the parking lot bounded by Young and Duke Street will have to be closed during the demolition process. The contractor will need a staging area and public safety and possible vehicular damage would have to be considered when making this decision. At the time this report was written only portions of the Centre Block parking lot will be closed with access only from Duke Street. Effected monthly parkers are being diverted to the Duke /Ontario Garage. The small parking lot at Young and Duke will be closed for the duration of the demolition. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: At this point, staff are still in the process of identifying all of the costs related to demolition and remediation as follows: - The demolition cost based on tender award with the demolition contractor retaining all salvage rights - $206,510.; - Salvage costs in the event Council determines that it wishes to preserve building materials are known based on Bid Item B in the tender, but have not been committed by staff. It is our understanding that the $313,510. amount bid by Bel-Air would include both demolition and salvage. Therefore the City could expect to pay an additional $107,000. for exclusive salvage rights. The contractor has confirmed that any decision by Council which reflects limited salvage could be negotiated at a lesser amount. The exact amount would depend on the materials to be salvaged and the amount of labour required returning them to the City in a reusable form. The present bid amount with respect to salvage includes skidding and delivery of any materials for outdoor storage at Elmsdale; - Removal of environmental materials is known to be an issue which the City is required to address, but the exact nature and cost in this regard is unknown at this time. Frontline is working with staff to make a determination in this regard; - Fill and grading costs will be incurred but are unknown at this time, and additional information in this regard will be provided to Council when available; - The City continues to experience costs with respect to security fencing initially put in place prior to Christmas, and will continue to do so during the course of demolition and re-grading. The total cost is not known at this time; Environmental and engineering consulting costs are and will continue to be incurred but the total amount is not known at this time and will depend entirely upon how the demolition proceeds and whether it is necessary to demolish more than Phases 1,2 and 4 of the Forsyth complex; Costs will be incurred if the Art Deco addition is retained relative to construction of a temporary wall on the south elevation to enclose the building pending a decision on its future. The extent of any work required to stabilize the house portion of the complex is not known at this time and can only be determined as demolition progresses. Any costs related to the demolition and remediation of the site will come from the Economic Development Investment Fund, specifically that portion related to the Centre Block development. COMMUNICATIONS: Corporation Communications will continue to keep the press and public advised as to progress in remedying the unsafe condition and related issues. Leon Bensason, Heritage Planner, will continue to keep Heritage Kitchener abreast of developments, and they will be consulted where required or appropriate. Traffic and Parking staff will continue to deal with the City's parking customers and to the best of their ability ensure alternate arrangements during the course of demolition and site remediation. The public will also be kept apprised of any necessary street closures or traffic disruption. L. Proulx Director of Facilities Management G. Sosnoski General Manager of Corporate Services & City Clerk c: C. Ladd P. Houston R. Browning J. Witmer M. Selling M. May L. Bensason C. Goodeve Heritage Kitchener L. Gordon Director of Purchasing