Water project experiences some alterations

By Chris Sykes, Staff Writer
The administration of Mayor Eldridge Hawkins Jr. has asked the City Council to consider a change order for the city’s Valley pump-station project.
Business Administrator John Mason and Valerie Jackson, who heads the Department of Planning and Economic Development, said $408,000 of the $500,000 needed would be used for sludge removal. The $92,000 balance would be used for flammable chemical storage.
Change orders are literally what the name implies: orders to change parts of a project. They can be described as additional, unintended expenses that arise “on the fly” when the plans of planners, architects, designers and budgeters run into the reality of constructing something from nothing or creating changes or modifications to existing buildings and other structures.
The timing of when change orders are made often causes consternation to everyone involved. In the case of the Beech Street station project, it is less than five months after the groundbreaking ceremony in September 2009
Plans for the future Chestnut Street Water Treatment Facility will include three high-service pumps, emergency power availability and a raw water storage tank to allow service during minor power outages. City officials said the project will enable the city to provide a safe and stable source of water for its residents “far into the future.”
“This groundbreaking ends the redevelopment logjam in Orange,” Hawkins said. “Although we are in a recession, the real estate bubble has burst, and bank loans have temporarily dried up; now that the pumping station issue is resolved, developers have begun to knock on our door.”

Read more in this week's Orange Transcript, Click Here to SUBSCRIBE TODAY