Weather, surprises compound completion of city parking lots

Sunday, November 23, 2014
An old heating oil tank is removed recently from beneath the surface of the new city parking lot site under development at Indiana, Walnut and Jackson streets south of the square. The unearthing of the tanks was just one of several setbacks that have been encountered in the downtown parking project.

The parking portion of the City of Greencastle's historic Stellar Project appears -- to use the vernacular of the season -- to be the gift that just keeps on giving.

Whether it's been the victim of bad timing, lousy weather or perhaps even a curse of some kind, the parking solution for the downtown is on the verge of being shelved until next spring.

That's because cold and rain have become the latest obstacles, preventing the contractor from putting the final asphalt on the two surface lots, a block south and a block west of the courthouse square.

"We hadn't anticipated the Polar Vortex moving in," Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray told the City Council earlier this month, while reminding members that asphalt cannot be effectively put down when the temperature is less than 45 degrees or if the ground below the surface has been frozen.

Besides that, asphalt plants in Indiana tend to shut down for the season once Thanksgiving arrives.

"If the weather had held," the mayor added, "we wouldn't be dealing with the issues we have, but the weather hasn't held."

For weeks it was said the two surface lots -- one on the block bounded by Indiana, Walnut and Jackson streets (the site of the old First Christian Church lot) and the other on the former Moose Lodge parking lot along Market Street between West Washington and Franklin streets -- would be done by mid-November or "Thanksgiving at the latest."

Now, given the recent inactivity and the wet and cold weather forecast for the days ahead, it looks as though putting down asphalt this week is about as likely as Elmer Fudd bagging a Thanksgiving rabbit.

City officials met with the contractors Thursday, Mayor Murray told the Banner Graphic, and obviously there were questions about when and if completion was foreseeable on the lots.

"It's not just the asphalt," the mayor suggested.

Plantings and sod work at the two parking sites are also caught up in the delay.

"The weather is indeed a huge factor," the mayor said, explaining with frustration that no one seems to have any definitive news from the asphalt plants regarding closing.

However, reports from northern Indiana indicate extensive paving work was going on along the Toll Road with more still to do, given extensive sections of the road that had been milled and are waiting for a new surface coat.

"I think the question for us," Mayor Murray said, "will be where might our project be on any priority list?

"Hopefully, we will be able to see some significant movement in these next couple of weeks, but looking at the weather report and considering the holiday, it's hard to be real optimistic," she added.

It's also difficult to be overly optimistic considering the history of the project.

Residents will certainly remember that initially the downtown parking solution was supposed to a 146-space parking garage south of the square but bids on it twice came in well over budget (including nearly $1 million too high the first time) on what was projected as a $3.4 million project.

So the garage idea was ditched and the parking solution became a two-surface lot project awarded to Gibraltar Construction, Indianapolis, which offered the lowest of three bids at $1,135,000. The contract also carried an original Nov. 15 construction deadline for substantial completion. But that was before the weather intervened.

Last spring the city received approval of the Indiana Housing Community Development Authority (IHCDA) for $1.86 million in grant money for creation of the two new parking lots. The IHCDA-approved total of $1,860,429.78 included reimbursement for land acquisition, engineering fees and incidentals incurred along the way.

And along the way there have been other issues.

First came the torrential rains that fell in late August as soon as excavation began on the old Moose lot site. Compounding that, water and gas lines were severed at about the same time because those utility lines weren't where they were shown in site drawings.

Meanwhile, construction crews also unearthed the remnants of two old buildings on the Market Street site that apparently were demolished and their parts bulldozed into a hole and an old cistern on the property.

"This project has been full of surprises," Mayor Murray understated during a recent city meeting after detailing how two large heating-oil tanks had been discovered underground at the southern parking lot site.

Although those tanks were uncovered near the site of the old Charlie Jenkins' Standard/Amoco station, they were not actually part of that property nor were they connected to the old Commercial Hotel site at the southeast corner of Jackson and Walnut.

The tanks had been capped off and filled with sand in prescribed fashion for abandoning them decades ago, it was noted.

Judging by the location of capped-off distribution lines, the tanks appear to have served a large building that likely predated the old Felling law office that was razed during the parking lot project, city officials said.

Meanwhile, all the drama and distractions have also kept the city from finalizing its ordinance on the new two-hour downtown parking regulations.

"We've got to have the free lots available before we change the two-hour (limit)," Mayor Murray stressed.

Once that parking ordinance is adopted, vehicles will be allowed to park for only one two-hour period in the entire two-hour designated area downtown during a single day.

That is intended to encourage use of the new free lots, leaving parking on the square for customers of the shops and offices located there.

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